5400 Wood Heaters

An edited version of this letter was published in the Sun-Herald (Sydney) on Sunday 17.3.02:

The NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is setting up a $6 million Clean Air Fund to tackle local neighbourhood sources of air pollution like wood heaters. Bob Carr is offering cash subsidies to families in some areas to replace wood heaters, "a major cause of particle pollution", according to the EPA (Action for the Environment, NSW Government Environment Statement 2001) .

While Bob Carr is trying to encourage householders to reduce pollution from wood heaters, he seems determined to introduce five very large "wood heaters" near Broulee in the Eurobodalla Shire, in the form of a massive 5-retort charcoal factory. According to the Environmental Impact Statement, each charcoal retort, when everything is working correctly, will emit about 60kg of unseen but highly dangerous pollutants each day, or a total of about 108 tonnes of pollutants each year for the five retorts. If the company also burns 20,000 tonnes per annum of sawdust produced on the site, this will increase the pollutants.

A good domestic wood heater might produce 20kg of pollutants each year if decent wood is used. Bob Carr's charcoal factory, when operating in optimal condition, would produce the equivalent pollution of about 5,400 domestic wood heaters - 24 hours a day 365 days a year!

Can one still take Bob Carr seriously?

Peter Hill