ELECTRICITY GENERATION FROM BIOMASS

For decades the Australia Government has been lobbied to allow electricity generation from burning biomass to attract clean energy credits. Lobbyists promoted this as a way of disposing of waste vegetable matter as a renewable energy source, a win-win situation they explain.

Electricity generation from biomass is already occurring. Millions of tax-payers dollars have gone to businesses, such as timber and sugar mills, to establish co-generation plants, utilising heat they were already using in their manufacturing processes, to also generate electricity.

Both industries create significant amounts of waste, and are ideally placed to benefit from co-generation, a win-win situation indeed. However, while it is undoubtedly renewable energy, it is far from clean. Reports from the USA, which has a long history of wood-fired power generation, show the resultant emissions are actually worse than those from burning coal.

Conservationists in Australia have long been concerned that any up-take in biomass burning here would ultimately lead to the burning of native forest timber, to the detriment of those forests. The fact that some of the most strident supporters of biomass use are from the timber industry adds to those concerns.

The co-generation at sugar mills, originally promoted as a way of disposing unwanted bagasse and cane tops during the short crushing season, has turned more to burning wood because it is more efficient.

Initially this was promoted as a way to dispose of pest species such as Camphor Laurel. However, as feared, some sugar mills have seized the opportunity to turn themselves into full-time wood-fired power stations, and are burning wood chips which they claim is waste.

One Clarence Valley timber mill is currently applying to Council to increase its wood-chip output from 1,000 to 50,000 cubic metres annually to feed the sugar mills' furnaces. Clearly this is not waste timber, but logs that have no commercial value, hence the state government's current move to allow clear-felling in state forests, a practice that has been happening illegally for a decade or more.

If we value our unique wildlife, and amazing biodiversity, this madness has to stop.

- John Edwards

 This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on October 16th, 2017. 

KOALA PROTECTION IN NSW STATE FORESTS LIKELY TO BE WEAKENED

The NSW Government is in the process of changing the broad suite of legislation which protects the natural environment. While this presents an opportunity to improve environmental protection, it also presents an opportunity for the Government to weaken it.  

 

One area of particular concern for environment groups is changes to the rules governing logging operations, changes which will seriously weaken protection for koalas. These new Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals (IFOAs) being written by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be available for public consultation early this year.

Koalas in this state are already in serious trouble – a situation which resulted in the listing of the species as vulnerable under the federal EPBC Act in 2012. 

The new IFOAs plan to replace on-ground surveys with habitat models to streamline pre-logging koala surveys.

Dr Oisin Sweeney, Science Officer with the NSW National Parks Association, said, “The experts that reviewed the EPAs models found that they can’t predict the occurrence of koalas because they don’t take into account either the social nature of koalas or past disturbance.”

“Basically koalas, like humans, like to stay close to their families.  These social ties mean that habitat is not the sole driver of koala occurrence.  The models don’t consider past disturbance either: intensive logging and fires leave a legacy which affects whether koalas will use an area.”

Dr Sweeney is also concerned that the EPA has not analysed the effect of the current regulations on koala populations. “It is extraordinary that despite huge documented declines in koala populations across the NSW coast, the EPA would consider weakening logging regulations without knowing what the current ones do.”

The North Coast Environment Council’s Susie Russell is scathing about the proposed changes.

Ms Russell said, “This is pretending to look for koalas, not looking for koalas.  And we know from past experience in Royal Camp [State Forest] that if you don’t look you don’t find and if you don’t find you don’t protect.”  

Questions obviously need to be asked about why the EPA, which does not have a good record with forestry compliance, is weakening koala protection.

-          Leonie Blain

This post originally appeared in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on 11 January 2016.