Garrett rejects Gunns environmental reports
Matthew Denholm | August 23, 2008
GUNNS may need to significantly modify its Tasmanian pulp mill – to address key environmental issues – if it is to win final federal approval and a joint-venture partner.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett yesterday warned that the company was unlikely to meet an October 4 deadline to provide an environmental management plan in “satisfactory” form.
While he would consider a request for an extension, Mr Garrett said he might require tertiary treatment of the mill’s effluent, adding tens of millions to the project’s $2billion-plus cost. And it emerged that Gunns may need to drop the mill’s initial reliance on native forests to meet environmental standards applied by Scandinavian firms courted as potential joint-venture partners.
Ecuador passes charter of plant rights
On July 7, the 130-member Ecuador Constitutional Assembly, elected countrywide to rewrite the country’s Constitution, voted to approve articles that recognize rights for nature and ecosystems. “If adopted in the final constitution by the people, Ecuador would become the first country in the world to codify a new system of environmental protection based on Continue Reading →
Prince Charles slams genetic modification
The mass development of genetically modified crops risks causing the world’s worst environmental disaster, The Prince of Wales has warned. Â Listen: The Prince of Wales speaks out In his most outspoken intervention on the issue of GM food, the Prince said that multi-national companies were conducting an experiment with nature which had gone “seriously Continue Reading →
Bee crisis in UK threatens food supply
From The GuardianÂ
Read other articles about Bee deathÂ
Britain’s honeybees have suffered catastrophic losses this year, according to a survey of the nation’s beekeepers, contributing to a shortage of honey and putting at risk the pollination of fruits and vegetables.
The survey by the British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) revealed that nearly one in three of the UK’s 240,000 honeybee hives did not survive this winter and spring.
The losses are higher than the one in five colonies reported dead earlier this year by the government after 10% of hives had been inspected.
Farmers say ACCC missed the point
From The LandÂ
Major supermarkets have been vindicated by the findings of the long-awaited grocery prices inquiry, but Australia’s top farming body claims the investigation fell short of being comprehensive.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), found no evidence suggesting supermarket chains are being anti-competitive.
But National Farmers Federation’s (NFF) vice president, Charles Burke, said the grocery inquiry failed to “shine significant new light†on the whole food supply chain.
“Farmers remain bemused as to why there is such a huge gap between what farmers are paid at the farmgate and what consumers are charged at the checkout,†Mr Burke said.
Steel post prices jump on eve of Olympics
The industrial shutdown, which started earlier in the year, has halted all metal production within a 160-kilometre radius of the capital.
The inevitable flow-on has caused a serious shortage in many steel lines used in agriculture, including steel posts and barbed wire.