Lithgow Smelter Approved
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" We cannot live for commerce alone, nor will our civilisation be Lithgow Smelter Approved deemed great until we thoroughly The State Government has given conditional recognise the fact that the bushlands approval for Australian Silicon to build a silicon and all they naturally contain are gifts smelter at Lithgow. of Nature far transcending in value all As part of the conditional approval, the operator monetary and commercial consider- will be required to use rail to transport silicon ations. The humanising gifts of products through the Blue Mountains. The fluxwood now be discussed and Nature are necessary for our for the furnaces will have to be sourced from decided at special workshops interests, education, adventure, plantations. The operator will also be required to involving members. So far, romance and peace of mind. They establish an 8,100 hectare native hardwood we have policies on Urban constitute an antidote for our semi- plantation to offset some of the greenhouse gases sprawl/limits to development artificial existence. As we destroy created by the smelter project. and Sustainable Energy. our bushland environment we The Society has campaigned that, if it does go These policy workshops are destroy just so much of ourselves. ahead, the Lithgow Smelter should be made as your opportunity to have The balance of Nature is finely environmentally friendly as possible. The your say and to discuss adjusted; upset it, and there will be a Government has gone some way in this direction, conservation matters in desert at our doors. All the glory of and we congratulate Mr Debus for this. depth. the canyons, caves and rolling The most surprising condition concerns the production of charcoal for the smelter. The •••Sub-committees, bushcare plateaux of our great Blue Mountains groups and the nursery are is not nearly so much a commercial Government requires that the majority of the ongoing group activities asset as it is Nature's heritage for charcoal be made from timber sourced from outside where members are needed. legitimate enjoyment, and our own NSW. This condition will go some way toward Sub-committees have been gift to posterity." (The Katoomba protecting NSW old growth forests, but still leaves given more emphasis this Daily, 24th august, 1934) open the unsustainable logging of forests in other year and in our view, are an states. excellent way of being Climate Change Conference The charcoal manufacture requires 230,000 involved in the Society, The Climate Change conference at tonnes of hardwood each year. We will continue to learning how the organisation The Hague in the Netherlands has lobby for an alternative source for the charcoal. We works and acquiring skills collapsed without a deal being reached. understand that CSIRO are investigating this area, and knowledge in your area If you would like to read full and that low-ash coal has potential. of interest. coverage, have a look at this Web Site: One of our main concerns is the impact of ••• Meetings : Monthly http://www.planetark.org/ greenhouse gases from the smelter and its related committee meetings are open dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9109 It activities. to members. General includes a press release from The greenhouse issue is potentially catastrophic Meetings are designed to Greenpeace, as well as links to a number and new, large scale, projects must be greenhouse neutral before they are approved. The smelter entertain and inform, and of other stories. involvement and feedback The gist of it all is that the US, project will add about one million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. The requirement for an from members is welcome. Canada, Japan and Australia wrecked the Phone calls, emails and conference by refusing to move on 8,100 hectare hardwood plantation to offset some of these greenhouse gases is just a drop in the bucket letters are also welcome. reducing greenhouse gas emissions. • Bushwalking The US wanted to include the natural — it should be ten to fifteen times larger. •• There were a total of 659 submissions, of which continues to be an important absorption of carbon dioxide by their experience for environmental forests as a greenhouse sink, to maximise 14 came from state and local government organisations. The remaining 645 were from the learning and communication their 'flexibility' in achieving their amongst members. targets. In other words they want to public and community organisations. All 645 opposed the smelter — none in support. Join in, have some fun, continue the current practice where 24% make friends and have your of greenhouse gas emissions are say through the various generated by a country with only 4% of to keep communication channels open to channels of communication. Effective the world’s population. you, the members. Some of the ways you communication makes our organisations Canada, Japan and Australia can be involved are: strong. Meredith Brownhill. supported the US stand. •••Policy making workshops . All As an Australian, I am ashamed of conservation policy of the Society will the stance taken by our Federal Government negotiators. We risk “““Hut News ”, the newsletter of Blue Mountains Conservation SocieSocietyty Inc. global catastrophe, and our Prime P.O. Box 29, Wentworth Falls, 2782 Phone 4757 1872 Fax 4757 1753 Email: [email protected] Web page: http//www.pnc.com.au/~bmcs Minister says that we don't want to President: Robin Mosman (Ph/Fax) 4757.1354 First Vice President: Meredith Brownhill 4782.4823 carry a 'disproportionate burden’. [email protected] Second Vice President: ImreImre Gahl 4784-3286 CorrespondenceCorrespondence Secretary: Ross Coster. Frances LoveLove, 4757.2585 [email protected] Meetings Secretary: Heather HullHull, 4739.1493 [email protected] Membership Secretary: Ross CosterCoster, (H)4759.1837 (W)4759.1247 (Fax) 4759.1095 [email protected] Treasurer:Treasurer: Les Members! Would you like to CoyneCoyne, 4757.3327 (Fax):4757.2820 [email protected] be more involved? Publicity: Jim Wallace 4784.3305 Land Use: Lyndal Sullivan 4782.1635 [email protected] Walks This year the management Convenor: Bill Graham 4759.1692 [email protected] Plant Nursery Manager: David Coleby (Ph/Fax)4784-1395 committee has made an extra effort National Parks: Lachlan Garland 4754.2796 Bushcare:Bushcare: Laura Hays 4782.7692 [email protected] Education: Bob Seaborne 4751.6100, [email protected] BushfireBushfire Rep: Hugh PatersonPaterson, 4751-2303 [email protected] Projects: Kathy Gott 4739-8124 Martin Beveridge 4758.9829 [email protected]. Helga EsamieEsamie.4787.7690 [email protected] Mike Purtell 4751.2143 [email protected] NewsletterNewsletter Editor: Christine Davies 4787-7246 [email protected] Hut News , No. 161, December 2000 — Page 1. Don Morison. billion; ‘however, the countries which under international law own the APACE: A Better Way resources get about 5% of this or less’. As the founding member, in 1976, of There was also gross under-reporting of APACE, a non-government organisation the size of the catch to the countries’s specialising in appropriate technology authorities. for people living in remote rural areas, I APACE has five micro-hydro attended the official opening in April of systems in action in Solomon Islands, all this year of a micro-hydro electricity run, maintained and repaired, where system that had been designed, built and necessary, by villagers who have been installed by APACE in cooperation with trained on location and in Sydney. There Making the Century Greener the villagers of Bulelevata on the island is now a national committee that is At a recent BMCS project meeting, of New Georgia in Solomon Islands. we reflected on past efforts to gain more planning a strategy to bring electricity to APACE’s original raison d’être was to as many villages as possible all over the protection for natural areas of the Greater help villagers to find a source of revenue Blue Mountains. country. APACE needs more funds to that did not involve the selling off of enable this plan to be carried out. Every Failure greeted a nineteenth century their rainforests. Electricity would effort to ban development along the dollar we can raise will be matched by enable them to light the schools and three dollars from AusAID, the north side of the railway from Katoomba churches and house, to power to Bell. However, in the 1930s, Myles government’s overseas aid program. refrigerators, bakeries, cool rooms and You can help by making a (tax- Dunphy, Allen Rigby, Wallace Roots drying sheds for copra and to start small and others purchased the Blue Gum deductible) donation to ‘APACE industries such as making furniture. Overseas Development Fund’, PO Box Forest through private fund-raising, and The Solomon Islands Ombudsman the modern conservation movement had 123, Broadway NSW 2007. All explained the dilemma confronting so donations will be gratefully received. I been born. many villagers in the South Pacific. Restricted access due to the flooding should add that because APACE is ‘People always need money. They want largely run by volunteers and underpaid of Lake Burragorang delayed develop- and need money for children’s education, ment of the Southern Blue Mountains staff its overheads are minimal, probably transport and the luxuries of life. For the lowest of any NGO. Robert Waddell. until Kanangra-Boyd National Park was many people, all they have to sell are established. The 1980s and 1990s saw their trees, and logging companies will Welcome to New Members the NSW Wilderness Act declared and give quick easy money for them.’ Elizabeth Benson, Lawson applied; Wollemi, Gardens of Stone, The prevailing economic develop- Susan Orem, Wentworth Falls Abercrombie River and Nattai National ment strategy for a ‘developing’ — what Thomas Lodewyke, Wentworth Falls Parks declared; and the management of a misnomer! — country is for the (Kids Club) Jenolan and Wombeyan Karst Reserves government to open up its economy to Peter and Elizabeth Lonergan, Warrimoo improved.