Hey People
You may be aware that the Senate is due to debate the legislation that plans to start to use our native forests as biofuel for the coal burning furnaces in The Valley on Monday. This is a mad scheme to garner carbon credits for the coal industry. This mad scheme must be stopped. please assist by sending emails to the cross bench senators asking them to oppose this.
I am including a list of their email addresses and a proforma letter you can send or adfapt as you see fit.
CROSS BENCH SENATORS
Senator Wang is in PUP
senator.wang@aph.gov.au
Senator Muir is in the AMEP
senator.muir@aph.gov.au
Senator Leyonhjelm is LDP
senator.leyonhjelm@aph.gov.au
Senator Day is Family First
senator.day@aph.gov.au
INDEPENDENTS
Senator John Madigan
senator.madigan@aph.gov.au
Senator Glenn Lazarus
Senator.lazarus@aph.gov.au
Senator Nick Xenophon
senator.xenophon@aph.gov.au
Dear Senator XXXXXXXXXXX
I’m really worried about the plan to use forest as bio fuel.
I am a resident of Mallacoota, a town in a region famous for its wilderness, Biosphere Reserve status and as a draw card for tens of thousands of Victorian, Australian and international tourists every year
This idea to burn forest for fuel is pretty mad unless you are bent on destroying our whole area as a tourist attraction – who is going to travel hundreds or thousands of kilometres to see broad expanses of bramble covered tree stumps
We are all talking about this. There is virtually no one in our community employed by the logging industry or Vic Forest .We have grave concerns for the town’s economy and community if this mad scheme does go ahead. We are a community of small businesses dependent on tourism, and we will not be silent this time. This legislation could destroy our community and others like it. Burning our forests is not going to help our community, forests or Australia .
This bio fuel scheme will continue the drying out of water catchments. As felling of native forests would continue relentlessly to feed the furnaces. The demand for wood chips as fuel will further erode a best practices in forest management. Normal 80 year turn around is now really down to 40 a year rotation. Under this bio fuel plan it will soon be down to 20 year rotation. 10 trucks for coal furnace 1 for saw logs? This isn’t great news for local jobs, water catchments or climate effect. There is plenty of talk in our community reflecting our concern over these issues. The forests need time to repair from over logging and recent massive bushfires. The fading timber industry is now proposing to deliberately burn our forest in an even larger scale at the expense of us all..
It seems our forest are now worth something like $40 m in carbon credits when burnt rather than conserved as carbon sinks, climate modifyers, water managers and tourist attractions. These are public forests and I urge you to oppose this legislation in the name of common sense and the continued economic viability of our region. Giving carbon credits and tax concessions to the coal industry for burning community owned forests is I think you would agree just a little bit short sighted.
Time has come to reconsider our region’s options. Come on. Common sense must prevail.
Hands off our forest for bio fuel.
Your Sincerely.
Skullthorpe's Blog 