SOUTH EAST FOREST ALLIANCE
THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE 27 SEPTEMBER 2001

SOUTH COAST REJECTS CHARCOAL FACTORY AT MASSIVE PUBLIC MEETING

Conservation and community groups today claimed the political death of the controversial charcoal factory proposed for the South Coast. This follows last night's highly successful public meeting at Mogo on the South Coast of NSW.

" Some 450 - 500 people came to hear representatives of local communities, conservation groups, Australian Silicon (the factory proponents) and State Forests put their views," said spokespersons for the groups.

The extraordinary attendance at the first of a series of public meetings planned by community and conservation groups reflected the great community concern at the proposal to put a large smokestack industry on 'The Nature coast', in the middle of one of Australia's most important nature-based tourism areas.

The meeting was extremely concerned at the prospect of another massive woodchipping operation being established. This plan to target native forests for charcoal production will effectively strip-mine the South Coast forests for the next 20-40 years.

Images of the SIMCOA charcoal plant currently operating in WA brought gasps of shock and concern from the meeting. This was followed by applause when the WA election results were recounted, and the effect that community anger had in unseating a government which gave away public forests to the lowest bidder.

After considering the fact that the entire South-Coast logging industry supplies 140,000 tones per year, the 500-strong crowd rejected State Forest's claim that they could recover an additional 200,000 tonnes of wood per year from current logging operations.

Further comment

Noel Plumb 0425 23 83 03

Glen Klatovsky 9282 9553 or 0410 482243