Some will know, many will not, about Oakshots concerns about burning wast timber for electricity, or rather not be able to do it.
Any close observer of NSW forests knows in a rush to fill a badly put together contract to supply logs, more than is possible, even clear falling is taking place.
It has always been the case, from the first commercial log cut down, that waste is left to rot, and fuel bush fires.
A look at east coast forests, say in the mid north coast areas around Coopernook to Warchop, with see thousands of tonnes, left forever, after a clear falling process 2 hundred meters wide.
Then look at any timber mill,the source of many bush fires,see the thousands of tonnes of stacked waste.
Yes the usually recycled but not always saw dust heaps too.
All is fated to burn, right there in the forest or at the mill site,as the last worker to leave earns that carton of beer by lighting it.
Why has this government let the greens control and stop re use?
Broadwater Sugar mill cost millions it is capable of turning this to electricity.
At Wingham,for half a century a brick yard has been fueled this way, not by coal or oil.
Conservation need not be blind.
And waste can be, by law enforced as ONLY waste.
Let us not over look this because some do not like this man.

Oakshot was on TV last night, with a very big timber industry owner.
Who had geared up to sell a dust like saw dust to power stations.
He can send it to other country's! they want it, to generate power! in Europe.
Why not use it here, is it a wish to leave Bio-Mass in the forest?
This clear felling is leaving stumps and all a meter deep in the place it fell.
Log dumps have heaps containing 600 or more tonnes of logs and off cuts.
Even truck after truck of logs cut down, then rejected, then left.
A home for Ferrel cats and rats,not much else.
This all burns,much hotter, regrowth if any is not always native.
Why can we not get more use from waste and use the funds to clear and replant these destroyed areas of our forests.

We really need to focus on using waste as a source of energy rather than tearing up & depleting even more natural resources.
Harness the gases & heat etc. along with wind,sea & sun power. Cut back on unnecessary power consumption.
I have recently seen houses being demolished & the bricks being shipped out & buried. That's in places where thousands of bags of fill are imported at great cost. That really isn't the way to go is it. Sewerage is being treated at huge expense & none of the gas harnessed. I'm certain there are better solutions available now, not something that still has to be invented.

Belly, not wish to disagree, but I am in fact a timbe cutter now, both on my own land, and as a contractor on private land.

I can tell you now that as a feller, you select a tree, fell it, then check to see if it passes the grade, as some may look good, but turn out to be 'duds' while others visa versa.

There are many steps involved in commercial timber harvesting.

There is felling, snigging, loading and hauling, all of which are performed by separate parties, all of which don't get paid if the logs are rejected at the mill.

A load of logs, about 23 ton costs thousands landed at the mill.

The reason so much is left behind is usually because to process the left overs is becoming cost prohibitive.

As for mulching and turning into an energy source, I'm all for that, but not for export, as we are going to wake up one day and find we have sold off all the eggs, and the chickens will have died.

Finally, it cost a lot more to haul a load of wood mulch, as it does a load of coal, so that may well be another reason why it sits there.

I recall when about 50 years ago, back in Europe they used wood shavings mixed with cement to make building blocks similar to Besser Block but twice the size & half the weight. Has this practice ever been here ?
What practical, non-polluting uses are there for wood chips ? Are we not seeing the obvious ? In fact why don't we look for alternatives ourselves rather than wait for the "experts" to come up with short-term solutions at huge expense ? What about the many pragmatists out there, I'm sure there are some brilliant ideas already. We need more labour intensive methods rather than less.

Dear Belly,

I'm a bit concerned about this one and I tend to
agree with Geoff Lazarus, spokesman for Climate
Action Australia who said that if it went ahead:

"...It would put a financial incentive on destroying
forests. This would put a value on native forest
material and result in massive and widespread logging
of high conservation areas to fuel bio-mass power
stations. Rather than logging declining and
resultant emissions falling it could move drastically
in the other direction."

Many years ago now, the Rocky Point sugar mill, [on the broad water between the Gold coast & Brisbane, was using bagasse to power the mill. This is the remains of the crushed cane. The Qld government, installed, at our great expense, a power plant to burn the excess bagasse to produce power for the main grid. One of those win win ideas.

The plan was to burn the cane waste during the crushing season, & import "some other" waste to burn during the rest of the year.

The bagasse produced just enough power to pay for itself, but that's where the problem arose. For a number of costly years, they tried a host of different fuels, but none worked.

Some fuel did not produce enough heat, some far too much residue, others worked but cost much more to transport, than the power was worth.

After many very expensive to the tax payer years of failure, they shut the plant down. Some years later, after the press had forgotten the thing, they auctioned the whole plant off, at huge loss.

Those wanting to force these ideas should remember, Micky Mouse is great at Disneyland, but Mickey Mouse little versions of industrial units are really just cartoons.

Hasbeen first, yes I worked a harvest in a mill, but holidayed often near broad water NSW .
Its mil burned baggas and forest timbers, not now.
Rechtub, long work life 13 to 66 but yes Dad and his dad cut timber.
I from age 8 swung on the end of a cross cut with dad .
Became a sawer briefly tailor out and union official looking after foresters and national parks.
Know what you say,this scheme fixes that cash return on it makes clean up profitable.
Lexi, yes but,please under stand not being rude.
You see the issue from a wrong view point.
This product,right now,sits in timber mills all over the east coast, as saw dust but too as waste generated by the cutting process.
It ,millions of tonnes,is stacked already in forests right now,its only fate without change is to burn there in extremely hot bush fires.
Right now NSW is trying to dump its forest workers, including fire fighters.
You and I can BOTH WIN.
Employ these folk as inspectors, send only felled timber only waste timber to the furnaces.
I just MUST say this,Greens on this and many issues are countering good conservation!
Coal and oil burn now it could be the timber,wasted now ,no use as Bio-Mass
And cut green house gasses too.
Every effort must be made to use such as this
We could expend every cent returned to growing two trees for every one cut down,for 50 years then maintain the number forever.
We can not do that with coal.
Like Oakshot or not lets look at this win win idea.
Conservation is mainsteam property.
PS if we fund the site maybe we can post photos to back up our words?
Bush fires are going to be very bad this summer.

Dear Belly,

Thanks for that. I didn't quite understand the full scope
of the issue. Lets see what Parliament decides. At least
Rob Oakeshott is trying to come up with something new.
And perhaps others can add to his suggestion and make it
even better.

I want other contributors too to under stand Oakshot and me are not talking of removing habituate.
These waste logs are stacked up to two meters high and can cover an acre.
The log dumps not regenerated are some times a hectare.
Put together massive and wasteful.
My words about photos come because a local mill has ten acres of wood.solid waste stacked and it will be burned one summer night just bet on it,I would have liked to post photos of many such stacks.
And invite greens to take an enjoyable weekend exploring these forest waste sites.
we can improve on this.

I really would have liked to have seen the views of the greens on this issue.
I think they see trees being felled to provide wood.
Or habituate being removed.
On this issue surely we can talk ,if average Aussie saw the waste wood and knew about its possible use?
We will this summer, be seeing horrific bush fires it is the nature of our country.
Every summer without them brings one with bad ones.
Shame these stacks will fuel, even start many .

Was it the name Oakshot?
Was it the green propaganda, the thought burning Forrest timber is cutting everything down to burn?
Or just lack of understanding?
In my childhood the many timber mills in the southern highlands all saw hundreds of tons of saw dust along side.
Last man out set fire to them, it just was the way.
Burned for months, some never went out.
Apart from a few bags sold to butcher shops that was its fate.
Well change came, two brothers started an industry, chicken mass production.
Saw dust was wanted,and another found cash in it combined with chicken droppings.
Today? that sawdust is not burned,although one firm chares it and convinces us it is potting mix, it is used, always.
But those stacks? timber off cuts? in the bush and the mills stay well weathered and wait, to be burned.
For some reason, maybe it burned too fast? wood fire owners want log wood not it.
We, thanks Greens thanks too ALP, see it unused,and know as sure as the sun rises it will burn in the place it lays.
Fueling in a season that will terrify us all,bush fires, it may well be this year.
In those ashes will be the hope for a new sustainable industry a carbon cutting alternative one.
Thanks to the power greens so badly miss use to kill jobs and hope in the bush they north shore dwellers, never understood.