Friday, Mar 16, 2012 at 18:25
By Kalgoorlie, Steve, I presume you mean the
Great Western Woodlands (so called by the Wilderness Society), that tract of "pristine dryland forest" (so described by the same Wilderness Society) that is in such a pristine state that it is now deemed irreplaceable despite being cared for and loved by the self same "greedy and destructive" mining industry such that it is in that pristine condition.
Jesus Christ Almighty. It was people like you that almost destroyed the entire
woodlands. The only reason the Mining Industry stopped cutting down EVERYTHING was they found a cheaper alternative to Native
Forrest. The
Woodlands you see now are only regrowth. Go out the back of the
Helena and Aurora Ranges and get an idea of the size of the Trees that used to exist throughout the entire goldfields.
The "holes in the ground" that you refer to belong to a couple of generations ago before the current mining and environment regs were put in place 30 or 40 years ago.
The regs were put in place to control an OUT of Control Mining Industry.
Here's a challenge for you, Steve and
Laura, and any other "nimby greenies", go and find the old Goldsworthy minesite or town? Or the bauxite mines in the SW of 5, 10 or 20 years ago. No other industry regenerates country like the mining industry, no other industry. The Forestry Department used to, but of course we killed that renewable industry 10 years ago didn't we.
I was asked to locate Goldsworthy and
Shay Gap at work for a mapping job. Go to Google and look for the massive holes in the ground and 30 years later on you can still make out where the townsites were.
When I was a kid there were no trees around Kalgoorlie, the
woodlands having been clear-felled, some of it twice, by the woodline companies, the same woodlines that all of us 4wdrivers love to get out and explore. The magnificent regeneration of the
woodlands has been in my lifetime (I'm 54), which has coincided with a period of incredible mining and exploration activity.
Imagine what it would be like with even some of the original forest just like the small parts of the forests in the South West.
And whilst you're about it, detail the "large parts of WA" being subjected to "ecological damage" by the mining industry without approval from the most stringent environmental and mining codes in the world.
Ask yourself why we have to have the most stringent environmental and mining codes in the world.
And if you disagree with that description, find a more stringent environmental and/or mining code and tell us where and why, rather than spreading emotive falsehoods about our most world-competitive industry.
And whilst you're about it, perhaps you could tell us, in light of your extreme distaste for the mining industry, what you, personally are doing to reduce your reliance on mined products? What are your renewable steel, nickel, aluminium, oil, lead, lithium, cobalt and copper alternatives? Optic fibres I hear you say - made from mineral sands!
I am not anti mining. I would just like to see some of nature preserved for the future.
But what I really want to see, is the actual proposal to
mine in the
Helena and Aurora Ranges Nature Reserve. If it exists, it will be on the public record somewhere for us all to see. So let's see it please, so we have something to deal with, rather than this series of uninformed assertions backed only by prejudice.
This whole area is open to mining because of the Barnett's Governments refusal to protect the area.
I don't want it mined either, but I'm not going to be part of yet another gratuitous anti-mining campaign aimed at turning us into a basket case economy like Tasmania.
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Follow Up By: Member - Paul B (WA) - Friday, Mar 16, 2012 at 21:02
Friday, Mar 16, 2012 at 21:02
No, Steve, the environmental regs were put into place by a change in community attitudes right across the whole spectrum of society, which hitherto had not valued environmental,
heritage, Aboriginal, humane or social aspects - only economic - it's the way the WORLD was, not just the mining industry so don't hang that emotive nonsense on me, or the mining industry.
The govt of WA had a policy from the late 50's to the early 80's of
clearing a million acres a year for agriculture - nothing to do with mining.
"I am not anti mining. I would just like to see some of nature preserved for the future." What? 99% of WA is not mined and under no "threat" from mining so Steve how can you possibly sustain that assertion? You appear to be living under the misapprehension that we are mining a much bigger area than we are and that there are no rules, when both are manifest nonsense and demonstrably so.
I repeat my earlier comment that every year we clear more land for housing in WA than we do for mining, and it is usually in fragile coastal environments rich in biodiversity - where is your confected outrage about that? It's much easier to be outraged about something that doesn't directly affect your own hip pocket, and it's that level of hypocrisy to which I am objecting.
If you want to turn WA back to a place with 10% unemployment and mass social dislocation then proceed with this absolutely prejudicial campaign - but you must understand the consequences of your actions on your children and theirs.
The simple fact is you are anti-mining but just won't admit it - just like the people who aren't racist but...
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