Seems like we’re a long way behind the South Americans in rallying popular opposition.  YouTube is a great medium for spreading the word, but so is commercial TV.

I urge all opponents of the Tamar Valley mill as, where and how proposed, to support the Campaign for a Clean Tamar Valley (CCTV) which is trying to raise enough money to fund a professionally produced media campaign, which will be in addition to the work already being done by TAP, TWS etc.

You can help by sending a cheque or money order (no matter how small, but the bigger the better) to Campaign for a Clean Tamar Valley, PO Box 160 Launceston.

Directors of the Campaign are Peter Cundall, Alderman Janie Finlay and Tim Thorne.

How come CCTV is not directly affiliated with TAP? Or TTTTTTnS for that matter?

What is interesting about this clip is that this protest action was heavily supported by Greenpeace.  Where are they for Tasmania?.  We have written to them and asked what they are doing - no reply.  We also wrote to Friends of the Earth who said they had tried to get involved but that the Wilderness Society didn’t respond to them (we suggested they contact TAP instead and they have said they will)  If it is true that the Wilderness Society are turning away help from organisations with a world profile then they are being foolish.  To have any chance of success (and I think we all know that is a slim one) Tasmania needs all the help it can get a united front of all the environmental organisations is needed and needed now.

Those are good points (#3) - where are the various international organisations in all of this. I suppose the Greens and WS could fly David Bellamy down again for such an international perspective, but they may be reluctant given is now ‘on the other side’ of the climate change debate. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10406591

Tomas (2), CCTV has very limited aims - merely to fund a short-term media campaign.  No desire to become an ongoing organisation.  Perfectly happy to let TAP keep doing its good work.  Interested as to why you ask.  Would you like to join?

Tomas, how come your views are not usually directly affiliated with any reasonably understanding of the issues at stake?

Just occurred to me; we don’t need Greenpeace at the moment.  (They’re better off trying to save the whales anyway.) I would surmise that the least the Wilderness Society can expect from their legal action is an injuction on three of the four issues raised; this should delay approval by the Federal government until beyond Gunns’ preferred deadline of August, leaving them in the lurch as to whether or not to keep toughing it out.

I am starting to think that the Mill We Had to Have will very soon become the Mill that Always Needed to be Built in Victoria. They’re mad keen for it, apparently.

Opponents of the Pulp Mill have the support of the Swedish Parliamentary Green Party, and Tasmanians have taken part in the international lobbying of Sweco at their AGM held in Stockholm in April. Sweco were merely asked to do their job properly. Have a look at the latest Tasmanian Greens’ newsletter.

However, it is up to Tasmanians themselves to fight for a genuinely clean, green and clever Tasmania.

This pulp mill has the potential to be an environmental disaster on the scale of the Valdivia mill in Chile which lead to the massive die-off of one of the world’s largest breeding colonies of black-necked swans. During commissioning of the Tamar mill, there are no legally binding limits on toxic emissions. Given that the mill is single train, fully integrated with a chemical plant that recycles large volumes of raw chlorine gas, it is not hard to imagine what will happen when Gunns put their purse ahead of the environment and release massive amounts of chlorine contaminated pollutants into the effluent streams when process controls go awry.