Australian sawmill hit by biofuel policy The owner of Australian Solar Timbers, a sawmill on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, says federal government policy has forced him to lay off more than 30% of his workforce and cut production to four days a week, according to a report by ABC News.Douglas Head accused the Australian Greens of trying to shut down the native hardwood industry, and the Australian Labor Party of hypocrisy, after MP Rob Oakeshott, who represents Lyne in New South Wales, lost a motion to have wood waste classified as a biofuel. Head said allowing sawmills to burn wood waste from their processing operations would not lead to excessive logging, but would allow the conversion of sawdust and shavings to renewable energy using Australian technology. In addition, the waste is used in the manufacture of biochar, a consolidated carbon product which can be used in agriculture and as a soil improver. Head said using mill waste would reduce carbon emissions at Australian Solar Timbers by 27,000 tonnes per year, and would burn the equivalent of 7,000 tonnes of coal which would otherwise have been left in the ground. Source: ABC News |
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