The Federal Government has given the go-ahead for Gunns to build its controversial Tasmanian pulp mill, with environment groups pledging to make the mill a centre-stage issue in the 2010 federal election.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett deferred yesterday full approval for the controversial $2.2billion Tamar Valley pulp mill until new studies of its impact on the marine environment of Bass Strait are completed over the next two years.
But the minister has approved nine environmental operating conditions or ''modules'' of the Gunns' proposal, including the go-ahead to clear 92ha of bushland to begin major earthworks and construction of the mill at Bell Bay, near Launceston.
The decisions has sparked a furious response from environment groups opposed to the mill.
Australian Greens deputy leader Christine Milne said the two-year extension to allow Gunns to conduct hydrodynamic modelling in Bass Strait would put the pulp mill ''smack-bang in the middle of the 2010 election agenda''.
''Nobody in the Tamar Valley, the tourism industry, the wine industry or the fishing industry can get on with their lives because of the looming threat that this polluting mill poses,'' she said.
Australia's most influential independent political lobby group, GetUp!, will make the fight to stop the mill one of its top campaign priorities during the 2010 election. ''We are already onto it. It's an issue that's stayed on our radar, and we'll be pulling together a very energetic campaign,'' the organisation's national director, Sam Sheikh, said.
Mr Garrett defended last night his decision to hold off on full approval, saying he needed to see the results of the detailed environmental studies.
''This is actually getting the decision-making the right way round,'' he told ABC TV.
The previous federal Liberal government provided the basic approval for the mill in 2007, and he could not go back on that decision.
''I think it would be reckless of a subsequent government to completely overturn a decision-making process ... that was put in place by a previous government,'' he said.
''No one would expect us to do that for this project or any others.''
Environment groups will target Mr Garret's coastal seat of Kingsford Smith in Sydney in the lead-up to the 2010 election, with speculation of a high-profile arts figure standing as an independent candidate in the former Midnight Oil singer's electorate.
Gunns chairman John Gay welcomed yesterday approval of 13 of the 16 detailed environmental conditions needed for the mill to proceed. He said the Rudd Government's conditional approval gave the company the confidence to begin construction once it had secured financial backing for the mill.
Wilderness Society spokesman Paul Oosting said Mr Garrett had effectively ''given the green light'' for the mill's construction, even though the proposal had not been given full federal approval.
''We could see the bulldozers moving in at anytime,'' he said.
Mr Garret has withheld approval of three modules, which relate to discharge and monitoring of mill effluent in Bass Strait.
''I will only make my final decision on whether or not to approve these modules once I am satisfied that the hydrodynamic modelling required by the conditions of approval ... has been carried out, and any implications arising from this modelling for matters of national environmental significance in particular the Commonwealth marine environment have been comprehensively addressed,'' he said.
He had been advised environmental studies on the impact of mill effluent ''will be likely to take approximately 26 months, including time to assess the study results and make the necessary regulatory decisions''.
During the 2007 federal election, Sydney businessman Geoffrey Cousins led a high-profile campaign against the pulp mill. GetUp! launched a petition against the mill which was signed by more than 30,000 people.
Senator Milne said it was ''obvious from day one that a chlorine dioxide bleaching pulp mill would pollute Bass Strait'' and has called for the Rudd Government to issue a briefing paper by CSIRO scientist Dr Michael Herzfeld which outlines preliminary hydrodynamic modelling of the pulp mill's effluent outfall.
The briefing paper has been the subject of a protracted legal battle between Senator Milne, the Rudd Government and Gunns, with a further hearing is set for March this year. Senator Milne sought to obtain the document under Freedom of Information, but her request was refused by deputy secretary of the Department of Environment, Gerard Early.
''I am able to make my own findings on the merits of the application,'' Mr Early wrote in a five-page letter outlining his refusal to issue the document.
Mr Early wrote that he shared concerns voiced by Gunns ''that release of the document may add further complexity to the pulp mill issue,'' adding it was ''already part of the suite of documentation that will be taken into account by the minister''.
Senator Milne said her campaign for the issue f the CSIRO study was based on ''the fact that this is a report paid for by the Australian taxpayer''.
''The Government has known about these concerns about the pulp mill effluent for some time now. It should not have required a long drawn out FOI battle, which is still ongoing, to force the government's hand to take a more serious look at the hydro-dynamic modelling ... the community knows that Bass Strait is shallow and does not flush quickly we've know that since the campaign to stop the Wesleyvale pulp mill more than 20 years ago.''