Pulp Mill road kill data fatally flawed

Peter Garrett has signed off on the road kill element of the Gunns Pulp Mill's Environmental Impact Management Plan despite the process and data being fatally flawed, missing numerous animals including three Tasmanian devils.

Despite the Chief Scientist's clear requirement for 3 months of daily monitoring of all five routes to the proposed pulp mill, Gunns only monitored part of two routes for 24 days. Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill (TAP) have conducted more complete monitoring on one of the routes, recording many more animals, including several threatened species.

Senator Milne said "The more detailed monitoring of road kill around the pulp mill site has found a tragic toll including three Tasmanian devils, five spotted tailed quolls, seven eastern barred bandicoots and a masked owl. It is horrible to contemplate how many more threatened animals would be killed if the mill were built, with log trucks hurtling down every route, every day.

"These appalling revelations about road kill around the pulp mill site make a mockery of Peter Garrett's assurances that he would only sign off each environmental assessment module once it fully addressed the approval conditions.

"Gunns' road kill monitoring utterly failed to meet the requirements of the Chief Scientist and the approval conditions, and yet Peter Garrett has signed off on it.

"This raises very serious questions about the other three modules of the Environmental Impact Management Plan that Mr Garrett has already signed off on, as well as the remaining 12 modules that he recently gave Gunns five extra months to complete.

"If Gunns cannot be trusted to properly complete a basic road kill survey, and Mr Garrett cannot be trusted to require it, how can either be trusted on issues as complex as toxic effluent mixing in Bass Strait?"

Deficiencies in Gunns' survey

• Gunns' consultant surveyed on only 24 days of the 120 days recommended by the chief scientist. For time, data is incomplete for 80% of the recommended three month daily monitoring program.
• For the first six of twenty four sampling days, data were collected over only 8kms of the total 33kms of the East Tamar Highway. For distance, Gunns data is 76% incomplete for this period. Gunns later extended the length of road sampled to 33kms from the seventh sampling run
• There is no Gunns' data for any of the "major roads associated with construction, commissioning and operation" as required by the Chief Scientist. Major roads omitted from Gunns' data include West Tamar Highway, Batman Bridge approach and the Bridport Highway.

Contact: Tim Hollo on 0437 587 562

Tim Hollo

Media Adviser

Senator Christine Milne

ph: (02) 6277 3588

mob: 0437 587 562

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