farmdoc's blog post number 228

I’ve written of the IBM technician’s big fee for knowing which button to push and how hard to push it. The message? Oftentimes little things have big impacts. Okay. So back to one of my hobbyhorses – the economically compromised, socially divisive and environmentally destructive pulp mill that Gunns Limited proposes for northern Tasmania. The project cost will reportedly exceed A$2.2b. And thanks to the global credit crisis it looks like the mill won’t happen. But hypothetically even if Gunns had the needed money, the mill proposal would likely die because of something which until recently Gunns had apparently ignored. Water. The mill needs water – lots of it. And it has to come in a 45km pipeline from near Launceston. The West Tamar Council is legally able to, and will, refuse Gunns a pipeline easement across Council land. And several private landholders are refusing Gunns pipeline easements across their farms. So that’s it, then. No easements, no pipeline. No pipeline, no water. No water, no mill. And to date the Bartlett Tasmanian government’s vowed not to intervene. Do I care if the mill proposal is killed by the credit crisis or the people? No, but the latter would be more delicious given the proponent and government have trampled on the democratic process at every opportunity. Gunn’s corporate geniuses should have secured the water supply first. Not last.