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Malcolm Turnbull’s advocacy of dams for the Clarence and Tweed Rivers,
before a thorough environmental analysis, hopelessly compromises his
portfolio, Greens Leader Bob Brown said in Hobart today. 
"The job of environment minister, a priori, is to defend the nation’s
environment but here the minister is sacrificing it to pre-election
big-dam water politics.  Like Liberal leader Barnett’s plan for canals
to bring water from the Kimberley to Perth, which lost him the last
election in Western Australia, Turnbull’s plan will very likely backfire
with Coalition voters.

"Mr Turnbull is the minister for the environment.  There are massive
environmental consequences from these dam proposals.  If the Howard
Government was determined to promote these dams, the minister for the
environment should have insisted someone else do it," Senator Brown
said. 
"It is incumbent on the minister to put forward prudent and feasible
alternatives to proposals for large dams, but he has sought no option.
It is untenable behaviour from the nation’s chief environmentalist,"
Senator Brown said.

“Suggesting more dams and longer pipelines, is a very disappointing
response to the nation’s water problems”, Mr Cohen said. “I’m
devastated that he’s pushing last century’s water mentality. It’s
not surprising that dam builders have proposed another dam, but we
expected more creative solutions from the new minister.

“The Clarence River supports a prime local tourism industry and
unsurpassed recreational and commercial fishing resources – damming it
would be an obscenity, and would simply prolong the profligate use of
water in Queensland.”

Citing the massive protests in Tasmania that finally put an end to the
Franklin Dam scheme, Mr Cohen promises the federal government that a
similar mobilisation of the mainland activist community would follow an
announcement to build this dam.  Mr Cohen asks the Iemma government
where is stands on the idea? “Will Morris Iemma acquiesce?”

“Malcolm Turnbull has been touting water recycling schemes around the
country. This announcement reveals how hollow his recycling commitment
is. It now turns out that his real focus has been on developing plans to
dam the mighty Clarence River and the equally environmentally
destructive alternative to dam the Tweed River.” Mr Cohen said.

“This project is more about allowing unfettered development in
Queensland, than about managing the nation’s water resources. It’s a
dinosaur engineering plan.”

Further Information: Nic Clyde: 0417 742 754
Ian Cohen: 0409 989 466

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895860.htm

Environmental groups are warning against the Federal Government’s proposal to pipe water from northern New South Wales to Queensland, saying it is a costly and destructive option.

Prime Minister John Howard and Water Minister Malcolm Turnbull are pushing the plan to dam the Clarence River in northern NSW and divert the water to drought-stricken south-east Queensland.

But the proposal has received a lukewarm response from both states.

Cate Faehrmann is the executive director of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, the peak umbrella organisation for NSW environmental groups.

She says the pipeline idea has been around before, but has been dismissed as unworkable.

"Dams are, of course, very environmentally damaging," she said.

"This one, if it’s all about piping water up to Queensland, we need to think about the energy used in that.

"We need to think about the Clarence estuary that potentially will be severely impacted by this."

© 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Forests affect climate in three different ways: they take up CO2 from the atmosphere and cool the planet; they evaporate water to the atmosphere and increase cloudiness, which also cools the planet; and they are dark and absorb a lot of sunlight, warming the Earth.

The carbon offsetting programs that promote planting trees are taking only the first effect into account.

When the changes to the surface properties are also taken into account, it is clear only tropical rainforests are strongly beneficial to slow down global warming. In the tropics, in addition to absorbing carbon dioxide, trees promote clouds which help to cool the planet.

In other locations, specifically in the seasonally snow-covered high latitude area, the warming from the darkening of the surface either cancels or exceeds the net cooling from the other two effects.

These new results have initiated a lively scientific discussion on the effectiveness of terrestrial carbon sequestration.

Clearly, more studies will be needed to confirm these results and narrow the uncertainties that are inherent in any single modelling study. Climate policy on terrestrial sequestration should follow later.

Based on the results from this new study, one may think that deforestation outside of the tropics could be an effective strategy to combat climate change.

In dealing with our environment, a broader view should be taken and narrower criteria should be avoided to prevent environmentally harmful consequences. Apart from their role in climate, forests provide natural habitat to plants and animals, preserve the biodiversity, produce economically valuable timber and firewood, and protect watersheds.

Dr Govindasamy Bala is an atmospheric scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California.

Forestry Tasmania stonewalling attempts: Allston’s intervention followed several point-blank refusals by Forestry Tasmania to supply details of its deal with Gunns after an initial application by Greens native forests spokesman Tim Morris in July last year. Both Gunns and Forestry Tasmania "strongly objected" to the wood contract Memorandum of Understanding, signed in April 2004 between then-Forestry Tasmania chief Evan Rolley and Gunns chairman, John Gay, being made public. The two companies claimed the contract was commercial-in-confidence" and its publication would harm both companies’ competitive advantages.

Ombudsman decision to open up debate: But the Ombudsman has now decided this is not sufficient grounds for keeping the entire deal top secret. But he agreed to continue to conceal the key price paid per tonne of timber and the timber volumes involved. However, the ruling is expected to reveal how Gunns has convinced Forestry Tasmania to give it cheaper access to the state’s native timber if the world pulp price falls below a certain level.

Forestry Tasmania loses FoI exemption claim: Forestry Tasmania indicated it would supply the document immediately. Allston specificially pointed out in his finding that since July 2005, Forestry Tasmania had lost any special status exempting it from the state’s FoI laws.

The Mercury, 13/4/2007, p.13