The Huon Valley Council should reject a Development Application and Planning Scheme amendment for a marine bulk loading facility at Waterloo Bay with capacity for exporting up to 500 000 tonnes of raw material per year.
“This horrendous proposal will impact on public access to the foreshore, tourism, the aquaculture industry, the marine and land environment, public health, road safety, property values, visual amenity, noise levels and recreational fishing and boating,” said Greens Member for Franklin Nick McKim MP.
“Many local residents are horrified about this proposal, and are rightly concerned about its potential to impact on their quality of life, local industry and the environment.”
“Minister for Resources Paul Harriss, who is also a Member for Franklin, must come clean on what he knows about this proposal, and whether his agency Forestry Tasmania has offered any assurances to the developers,” Mr McKim said.
Details of the Development Application and Planning Scheme Amendment can be found at:
http://tasmps.greens.org.au/waterloo-bay
Motion tabled in the House of Assembly today, 4 November 2014 by Nick McKim MP:
That this House notes:
2. That four 100m x 25m barges would be located at Waterloo Bay at the jetty and at displacement moorings in the Bay;
3. The materials listed for deposit on the barges includes wood chips, logs, sand, gravel, aggregrate, dolomite and other bulk materials;
4. That an estimated 10 000 tonnes per week of materials will be loaded on the barges involving between 200 and 600 truck movements per week;
5. That the proposal would involve the removal of 0.5 hectares of endangered eucalyptus obliqua and other native forest;
6. That uncovered, full barges will transit down the Huon River to a ship anchored in the lower D’Entrecasteaux Channel and that high winds could cause loss of light materials, particularly wood chips into the Huon River and surrounding areas;
7. That this proposal raises serious concerns including loss of public open space, impact on local tourism, the aquaculture industry, the marine and land environment, road safety, property values, visual amenity, noise levels and recreational fishing and boating; and
8. Agrees that Huon Valley Council should reject the Development Application and Planning Scheme Amendment.