NSW: Native forest announcement gets green support
By Rebecca Glenn
SYDNEY, Aug 29 AAP - Green groups today welcomed the NSW government's announcementthat native forests will no longer be logged for power generation.
NSW Premier Bob Carr said power generators would now have to rely on other materialsuch as residue from plantation forests, exotic woody weeds, and sawmill waste.
Previously power stations had also been able to use by-products of native timber harvestingand processing including stumps and branches.
"No stand alone native forest biomass power plants will be permitted in this state,"
Mr Carr said a Total Environment Centre (TEC) breakfast.
"This will remove any conceivable pressure to log native forests for residues."
TEC Director Jeff Angel said the policy was a big step in the right direction.
"It removes a major new threat to native forests," he said.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) said community pressure was responsiblefor the new policy.
"Aside from being environmentally and economically disastrous, native forest biomasswas also extremely unpopular within the community," NCC Executive Officer Kathy Ridgesaid in a statement.
The South-East Forest Alliance, representing 20 smaller conservation groups, said itwas a good decision but should have included bans on burning forests for charcoal on thestate's south coast.
"We hope that today's announcement is the beginning of an attempt by the Carr governmentto win back the core conservation vote in the face of mounting anger over native forestcharcoal burning and woodchipping," a spokesman for the alliance said in a statement.
Mr Angel said the development of the charcoal plant, near Bateman's Bay on the southcoast, was a big problem but a different one to that addressed today.
The NSW Forest Products Association (FPA) said the ban on using native timber harvestingby-products for power generation would have no effect on proposals for two new wood-firedpower plants.
FPA executive director Russell Ainley said the plants, proposed by the FPA, the CleanGreen Energy Company and National Power Australia for Grafton and Raymond Terrace, werenever going to use native timber residue.
Mr Angel said the main concern he had about the state government's new policy was theissue of sawmill waste.
Mr Angel said the waste, which could include material from native timber, could beput to better use
"The main thing to resolve is sawmill waste - they actually take more trees than theyneed," he said.
"However, the policy says they're going to review its (sawmill waste) use and investigatehigher value uses such as for fertilisers."
AAP rcg/arb/cjh/de
KEYWORD: FORESTS NSW NIGHTLEAD
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