I am writing to alert people to an appalling proposal by the NSW government.
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Our State government proposes to allow clear-felling of areas of up to 45 hectares in State forests between Grafton and Taree.
The logs are to be pelletised and burned in wood-fired power stations to produce electricity. The pellets may be burned in Australian power stations, or sent overseas to lucrative markets in in Europe and Asia.
This is being justified on the premise that wood is a “renewable fuel”.
Burning wood is more expensive and polluting than using wind or solar energy.
If we are to combat global warming we need to conserve trees. It takes many decades to grow trees, and that is time we don’t have.
The process of cutting down forest, moving the trees, pelletising and then burning them will emit large amounts of carbon to further warm the planet. If the pellets are exported and then burned this will of course further increase the carbon emissions.
This process involves destroying public assets to enable profits for large multinational companies.
It will destroy habitat for wildlife, pollute waterways, increase soil erosion and remove large areas of forest.
This process is planned to start soon.
Perhaps it is time we all contact our local MPs, the Minister for the Environment Gabrielle Upton, and Premier Berejiklian to express our views. As an election looms in 2019, the Opposition leader Mr Michael Daley could be asked what Labor will do about this issue.