Bega Valley Shire Councillors on 7th February approved a Development Application for Australia’s first pellet plant at the Eden chipmill, using native forest wood.

Only Crs Seckold and Hughes voted against it.

Burning pellets from native forest wood is not clean, green or renewable. Even with direct taxpayer subsidies of almost $15 million a year in NSW, native forest logging in this State is struggling to survive. The woodchipping industry is looking to energy production such as wood pellets to replace the income it is losing as traditional woodchip markets dry up, as more and more paper producers around the world refuse to buy their woodchips from native forest.
This decision is historic. If the plant goes ahead it has importance far beyond Bega Valley Shire.