LAUNCESTON company Gunns Ltd has told the Australian Stock Exchange that it can meet the Federal Government's hydrodynamic modelling requirements for its proposed $2.2 billion Bell Bay pulp mill.
The Gunns board has met today for the first time since Environment Minister Peter Garrett announced the final construction modules for the mill on January 5.
``The board is pleased to announce that, after a comprehensive review of the approvals received from the Minister and consideration of further advice sought by Gunns on the approval decision, the company is now in a very strong position to continue to move forward with the project,'' Gunns chairman John Gay said in the statement.
``The board believes that the mill will clearly operate within the effluent trigger levels approved by the Federal Minister in Module L, following advice from the CSIRO and the Independent Expert Group (IEG).
''
Mr Gay said the trigger levels superseded those used in a preliminary study conducted for the IEG by Dr Mike Herzfeld from CSIRO more than 12 months ago, which raised concerns about effluent dispersion in Bass Strait, in particular in relation to the dilution of chlorate.
``The CSIRO and the IEG have now scientifically reviewed the relevant trigger levels to ensure marine water quality objectives in Bass Strait are not compromised and these have been comprehensively implemented within the module approvals.
``Finalised and complete information from the CSIRO, the Independent Expert Group, and approved by the Federal Environment Minister in Module L, has determined appropriate trigger value inputs which lead to the Herzfeld Report to the IEG being superseded,
'' Mr Gay said.
``The CSIRO and the IEG determined that earlier trigger level inputs were based on old studies from the Baltic Sea and were not scientifically appropriate for Bass Strait.
``It shows that our concerns about the release of this report prior to all information coming to hand were valid.''
A copy of the Herzfeld Report, along with Module L, which details the new scientific findings on page 56 and 57, can be found from the following web link, www.gunnspulpmill.com.au/permits/ epbc.php.
``We are very pleased that this advice confirms our previous extensive studies that effluent from the project will not have any impact on matters of national environmental significance.
Mr Gay said international designers of the effluent treatment plant and the ocean outfall diffuser will be visiting Australia in coming weeks to finalise advice to the company in relation to guarantees for the equipment to enable the company to proceed quickly with the mill project.
``The company has no concerns in meeting all operating requirements for the mill given that the technology selected for the project has been comprehensively proven in modern international mills, where in many cases effluent is discharged into freshwater river environments with no impact to the environment or communities that source water downstream from the outfall.''
Mr Gay said the company would now now be continuing with the project as quickly as possible and looking to move forward with the overall financing structure.
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