CAMPAIGN FOR THE ULTIMATE RENEWABLE NEEDS QUESTIONING

 Letter to the editor The Port Macquarie News

Many readers of the Port News would have seen recently on television the latest propaganda from the Forest and Wood Products Australia group.

In this short video advertisement the actor with a safety helmet explains to the viewer that wood sourced sustainably is the Ultimate Renewable as the carbon in the timber in your house is stored for life and the trees are replaced from the thousands of seedlings pictured in the industry's nursery soaking up more carbon.

Sounds good but this description of the industry is deceptive.

There is obviously up to 100 years age gap before the seedlings replace the old trees that actually are more efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide than the growing saplings.

Furthermore the script completely and intentionally omits to mention biomass burning for energy.

The NSW DPI (Department of Primary Industry) claims that, "The benefits of using forestry residues for bio-energy include the opportunity to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing the use of fossil fuels."

The Forest Corporation intends to use Industrial Logging to harvest 142,000 hectares of our state forests from Taree to Grafton with "residues" feeding the proposed biomass plants at Bulahdelah, Herons Creek, Kempsey and Grafton.

The Herons Creek plant even has the support of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency ARENA) to trial making bitumen and diesel from forest material.

Single Tree selection has now become "Every Single Tree" with leaves, sticks, trees not millable and sawdust going to biomass and chips and pellet to export.

The USA and the EU, especially England have been running this rort for some time claiming that burning timber is more efficient and sustainable however the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change summarized the emissions of bio-energy use as follows: "The combustion of biomass generates gross Green House Gas emissions roughly equivalent to the combustion of fossil fuels." When wood is burned to produce electricity, it releases an estimated 80% more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity than coal.

To make this devastation of our biodiversity easier the NSW LNP Government has removed the prescription to search for koalas before logging and is moving to make old growth trees "new" again. 

It is no wonder people are talking about the extinction of arboreal wildlife in NSW

.

            - John Jeayes

Published in The Port Macquarie News on July 23, 2019.

BURNING WOOD FOR POWER IN NSW

In a Media Release dated October 22 the North Coast Environment Council (NCEC) has condemned the NSW Government for its plan to burn forest biomass to produce electricity.  The NCEC media is printed below: 

Ten north coast environment groups are signatories to a global position statement against wood-fired power stations released today. More than 120 groups internationally have signed on.

The statement begins: We share a vision of a world in which thriving natural forests play a significant role in tackling climate change and contribute to a clean, healthy, just and sustainable future for all life on earth. Burning forest wood for large-scale energy production cannot be part of that future for all of the reasons outlined below. Instead we must protect and restore natural forests, thereby reducing emissions and removing atmospheric carbon dioxide while supporting biodiversity, resilience and well-being.

The reasons elaborated are that it: harms the climate, harms forests, harms people and harms the clean energy transition. See the statement for detail.

“The same people who have been pushing coal are now also promoting wood-fired power stations. It does nothing to solve the urgent need to lessen global greenhouse emissions, quite the opposite,” said NCEC Vice-President Susie Russell

“All around the world communities are fighting to keep their forests and to protect them from what has become a voracious monster with a bottomless appetite. Signatories include environment groups from China and Indonesia, as well as groups across the American, European and African continents.

“This monster reared it's head here with the release last year of a report from the NSW Government Department of Primary Industries (DPI) saying there was enough wood, that if burnt, to power 200,000 north coast homes. That's one million tonnes of wood per year. It would involve tens of thousands of truck trips and cause irreparable damage to our region's precious forests,” Ms Russell said.

“The crazy thing about burning wood to generate electricity is that it actually produces more greenhouse gases and pollution than burning coal. But because of flaws in the international greenhouse gas accounting rules, burning biomass, including wood, is classed as a renewable energy. They make no distinction between burning annual crop wastes and burning 20-30 year old trees.

“The NSW Government is pushing it because it's trying to create a market for all the small trees that will be removed from the forests when its broadscale clearfelling comes legally into force. That was clear from the DPI report,” she said.

The statement concludes: We, the undersigned organisations, believe that we must move beyond burning forest biomass to effectively address climate change. We call on governments, financiers, companies and civil society to avoid expansion of the forest biomass based energy industry and move away from its use. Subsidies for forest biomass energy must be eliminated. Protecting and restoring the world’s forests is a climate change solution, burning them is not.

“The NSW Government ignores this message at its peril. As we saw in Wentworth on Saturday, people want genuine action on climate change,” Ms Russell said.

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Note:  "Wentworth" in the last paragraph refers to the federal byelection in the Sydney seat of Wentworth which was held on October 20 following the resignation from the federal parliament of former Liberal Party Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.  A substantial swing against the Government means that the seat is likely to be won by an independent, Dr Kerryn Phelps.  The result will not be finalist until all postal votes are counted in approximately another week.