Wood fired power

Tasmanian forest activists have unfurled a banner over a prominent Hobart city billboard to highlight the dangers of allowing forestry companies to burn native forests for power generation.  

The banner was dropped today over a billboard at the corner of Bathurst and Elizabeth Streets. It reads "Ban Wood-fired Power". The banner sends a clear message to governments and industry that the only

way to rule out the risks associated with burning our native forestsfor power is an outright ban on this archaic practice.

Forestry Tasmania, Gunns Ltd and other forestry and mining industry players are running a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign to have burning native forests for power installed as part of a false climatechange solution.A plan released by the Forests and Council (FFIC) calls forinvestments of over $300 million in wood fired power and proposes burning over 1.1 million cubic metres of Tasmanian timber in three power stations. There are currently three proposals for wood-fired power stations in Tasmania: at the Southwood facility in the HuonValley, at Circular Head in the North-West of the state and at Gunns planned pulp mill in the Tamar Valley. Combined, these power stations would consume many hundreds of thousands of tonnes of timber from Tasmania’s high conservation value native forests

Conservationists from across the country have joined forces today, as
part of a national day of action against the continued logging and
burning of native forests. Conservation groups from Tasmania, Victoria,
Western Australia, New South Wales, Canberra and Queensland are taking
part in local actions to highlight the threats to biodiversity that
burning native forests for electricity will create.

In the midst of the election campaign, conservationists are calling on
both major parties to announce policy intervention to resolve the forest
crisis.

Photos from National Day of Action. 

Top Left : Melbourne    Top Right: Hobart

Bottom Left: Perth       Bottom Right: Batemans Bay

In Hobart, conservationists from Still Wild Still Threatened and the
Huon Valley Environment Centre staged a protest outside Forestry
Tasmania's Melville Street headquarters. A giant toaster, representing a
forest furnace, popped out burnt endangered wildlife such as the
Tasmanian devil.

Two conservationists climbed onto the roof of the building and
displayed a banner saying "Don't Toast Our Wildlife - Ban Wood Fired
Power".

Community members also gathered outside Forestry Tasmania to sign
letters addressed to major parties calling for the protection of native
forests and the passage of legislation to ban burning native forests for
electricity.