Greens MLC Ian Cohen has strongly rejected claims by the Carr Government that the cancellation of the Mogo charcoal plant on the South Coast would cost NSW jobs and investment and said that the Government had to bear responsibility for misleading the company.

‘The announcement today by Australian Silicon that it would not build the charcoal plant at Mogo near Batemans Bay probably means that hundreds of jobs in NSW have been saved, not lost, even if both the charcoal plant and the associated silicon plant go to Victoria’ said Mr Cohen

‘It was always clear that that this archaic and ill conceived proposal would severely damage the South Coast tourism industry, an industry which employs 6000 people based on the natural beauty of the area and its wonderful forests, lakes and beaches. ‘

‘The project was opposed by the regional tourist body and by scores of local businesses as they could see the damage that the intensive logging, heavy trucks and smokestack factory would cause.’

‘It is a nonsense to suggest that a few jobs in the charcoal plant and on logging crews could ever compensate for the immediate job losses in tourism let alone long term economic losses as investors fled the smokestacks and the trucks, the polluted air and the fouled lakes and rivers.’

‘If the decision also means that the Lithgow Silicon Plant is lost to NSW then the Carr Government has only itself to blame by encouraging the company to believe that the community would ever accept either burning our forests for charcoal or building a smokestack factory in the middle of the South Coast.’

‘However, Australian Silicon is prolonging the agony by refusing to confirm or deny that it is still considering either a charcoal plant site or native forest timber supply from NSW.’

‘This now has communities and conservationists all over the state asking ‘Are we next?’

‘The company and the Premier need to clarify the situation immediately, not drag the matter out as each seeks to negotiate another deal either here or in Victoria.’

‘Given the huge subsidies, more than $72 million, that the Government was prepared to pay to encourage the plant, alternatives to charcoal from the forests were undoubtedly possible with Government assistance.’

‘The company also has to accept that it has a responsibility to be environmentally responsible and sustainable. Burning native forests for charcoal is simply not a 21st century, high tech industry even if silicon is promoted as a high tech metal.’

‘The Premier has been totally inconsistent, announcing only a few weeks ago that he would not allow burning of native forest ‘residues’ for power plants as it would be environmentally irresponsible, yet supporting the burning of 200,000 tonnes a year of logs, not ‘waste, from the South Coast forests.’