Will the Hipkins administration hold the forestry companies accountable, and under urgency, pass strict enforcement regulation compelling the forestry companies to clean up their Slash, before the next big storm hits?
The authorities have known about the dangers of Slash for a long time.
Slash is not a new problem. This has all happened before.
Not on this scale, for sure But after previous Slash related events, in line with neoliberal economic theory, the government neglected to enact legislation to regulate the forestry companies to clean up their Slash.
And so it was with Slash.
The Hipkins administration must act immediately to ban Slash under urgency, before the next big storm hits and costs further lives.
Even the ACT Party, usually the champion of neo-liberal laissez faire hands off economic theory, are campaigning against Slash. The Labour government’s hesitancy to immediately enforce forestry companies to clean up their Slash can only give ammunition to the government’s opponents.
January 2023;
September 2022;
When will forestry change?
September 2018;
Fears forestry slash poses a ‘catastrophic’ risk to residents along the Maitai River
June 2018
“Wall of wood”
Pat O’Dea is a trade unionist and human rights activist.
I’m told that slashings are able to be chipped, and even used as a sort of low-yield furnace fuel.
Perhaps the Forest Service should be setting up a scheme to do just that.
you’re right Kristoff. The logging industry could be carbon neutral . There are U.S. made portable chippers that convert this waste to syn-gas which can then be converted fuel .
There is also bio-char
This Labour Government doesn’t do things except front on TV daily to promote themselves.
They use catastrophe to promote themselves.
Oh Bob even for you this is a low blow. People have lost their lives .
perhaps the polluter(and it is pollution) should be forced to start such a scheme Kristoff of course in NZ where polluters never pay we’ll get a highly paid ‘working party’ who eventually put out ‘guidelines’ which the industry will duly ignore
It has been talked about; maybe the Huntly Coal fired power plant could use it. Trouble is that at the moment the value of chip doesn’t cover the cost of chipping let alone transport. But it needs to be done. Mabe not everything that needs to be done can be expected to be profitable and the state needs to make it so with public money.
D J S
“Mabe not everything that needs to be done can be expected to be profitable …”
I believe for the planet to remain livable for humans a different monetary model for pricing/cost structure is urgently required; endless pursuit of increasing profits at minimal financial cost is quickly destroying our environment.
maybe cost effectivness shouldn’t come into it dave, protect kiwis and if it makes a profit that’s the cherry on top not the purpose and factor in the money saved by spoil not destroying tracts of land and homes
So the company’s that are doing this now get us to pay to clean up their waste?How about they f’ing pay for it.
While we have a capitalist system we operate under things have to make a profit or at least ends meet to happen. The logging industry is peopled by keen hopefuls who borrow 90% of the value of their machinery on hire purchase , They are under pressure all the time to perform, and secure the next contract. If their gear is not near new they don’t get the contract so they are always paying HP interest rates of a million or so’s worth of gear while it wares out. By the time it is fully paid off it is worn out.
There isn’t the profit in what they do to cover a massive additional industry that does not exist yet, Or do the investigation and development of a completely new industry. Ultimately the consumer would pay if they were forced to recover the slash to stockpile against the possibility that one day someone with a lot of money was going to take on that development.
I think ther is a case for the state to take on that development just allong the same lines as the state built all our hydro electric systems. I don’t believe it should have been possible for a government to get into power and dispose of those state enterprises . There are things that everyone in society needs that are best supplied by all of us together as fundamental needs like health care, power and water and roading that I don’t think it is appropriate to be left to private enterprise even if we do continue with a capitalist system in most areas.
D J S
The problem is clear felling of a whole catchment in a few months by hauler draging stems across miles of frajile hillside. The slash is only part of the problem. The ground is left bare and broken with no wegitable cover to either break the flow of water or hold the surface together. The result is that the rain comes straitht off carrying with it a huge amount of soil which both slows down the flow in the waterways and greatly adds to it’s volume.
This land I remember being planted out of steep pasture land with the idea that in forrest it would not erode as badly as in grass. And it didn’t while it was in forrest. but when that cover is gone in an entire catchment it is far more fragile than it was in grass until it has cover again. A year or two.
The trees need to come off in steps , a few ha at a time so the worked area of land is broken up. It needs to be done in smaller operations , some here some there .
D J S
Exactly David .We need to move away from this short rotation, low value, high density type of forestry., that ends in clear felling
Tanes tree trust has been around for ages, implementing and advocating for the idea of continuous canopy forestry , using natives like totara, matai, rimu, even Kauri, and selectively harvesting high value logs by helicopter.
Wasn’t the use of forestry waste to make biofuels one of the research projects being conducted at Marsden Point before the oil companies were allowed to close it down? There was also talk that the facilities, previously at Marsden Point, could have been adapted to produce such biofuel.
Another wasted opportunity in the name of neoliberalism.
Who owns the East Coast forests and forestry companies?
Agree with that gagarin.
When I was young, a slash was number 1s in the loo. Oh how times have changed!
sinic it’s a cute ephemism that avoids calling it what it is. waste, spoil, pollution
I have received feedback on this post, that calling for slash to banned is like calling for the stable door to be shut after the horse has bolted. Because the Slash is probably all gone now, (washed into the rivers and out to sea by the cyclone).
My reply to this comment: ‘If the slash doesn’t exist anymore, then nobody should have any objection to banning it.’ And it shouldn’t be a problem for the government to immediately enact a ban on Slash ever being left behind by forestry operators ever again.
What’s the hold up?
Who’s the Minster of Forestry? Oh, it’s Stuart Nash, that explains everything.
yes pat but if forestry get the chance it’ll build up again in time for the next flood….regulation now.
There is a lot of reports in the news of people in flood ravaged zones having their food and generators stolen.
Meanwhile the big looters get a free pass from the government.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/131222961/government-bows-to-mining-industry-and-developers-and-weakens-protections-for-wetlands
nice attempt at distraction there pat.
I just about remember Aberfan similar situation wet coal slag slid down and obliterated, literally obliterated a school….we where lucky to avoid similar with slash….THIS TIME
Gagarin how on earth does Aberfan equate to slash. The Aberfan tip was right above the village ton upon ton of slag waste. This wasn’t hiding in the forest to be washed away with flood waters. This was an underground stream undermining the tip. The Aberfan tip was in plain sight as were many tips in the coal fields of South Wales and other mining communities.
it was a waste product from industry left to pile up against all advice…which was soaked by rain…happy queeny?…I know some pro forestry slash types will oppose the comparison but it is valid.
Pat – you cant ban slash – you can only burn it. What you can do is stop planting pinetrees on steep hill country. Appreciate it that urban people are finally waking up to the destruction of our rural communities because it is coming to a beach near you soon.
jason it can be hauled out and chipped or chipped in situ as has been mentioned above.
Not sure about that on steep country gag.
well they get the logs out…jason