HOBART—Timber giant Gunns Ltd is upbeat about meeting environmental conditions for its proposed Tasmanian pulp mill - they were its idea, a company spokesman says.
Gunns also proposed the "new" penalty regime touted by Environment Minister Peter Garrett as he played down the mill's construction approval on Monday by emphasising that marine environmental impact studies still needed to be assessed, documents show.
Gunns spokesman Matt Horan said on Tuesday the company had never doubted its ability to satisfy the marine effluent impact requirements as they were designed by the company.
"They were proposed by Gunns, presented to the Federal Government, accepted, and we await the results of the testing," Mr Horan said.
"We couldn't begin the modelling until the Government had approved the format on Monday.
"The company's intention was always to carry out the marine testing concurrently with construction.
"The minister then has to approve of our strategy to deal with the results of the testing."
Mr Garrett has also presented penalties of up to $1.1 million if the mill exceeds pollution limits as evidence of the Government's tough approach to keeping it in check, while dropping a requirement for the mill to automatically shut down in such cases.
A letter from Gunns corporate relations manager Calton Frame to Mr Garrett - dated December 16, 2008, and obtained by AAP - said the management plan lacked an "appropriate" deterrent.
"It did not appear to provide the minister with clear statutory discretion to pursue appropriate enforcement," the letter says.
"An explicit power to take enforcement action should limits be exceeded would provide important statutory support to the implementation and regulation of the Environmental Impact Management Plan.
"It would also provide the community with explicit confirmation that an exceeding of the maximum limits would constitute a breach of the approval," says the Gunns letter.
Mr Frame was unavailable for comment. However, Mr Horan confirmed the letter had been sent to Mr Garrett, but he declined to discuss its detail.
Analysts say the chances of woodchipper building its $2.2 billion Bell Bay pulp mill have improved, but it still depends upon securing funding.
