針對預算22億、興建在塔斯馬尼亞北部的紙漿廠提案，澳洲環境部長賈瑞特（Peter Garrett）決定暫緩宣佈最終決策，並且表示需就環境再做進一步的評估。
澳洲民眾普遍認為賈瑞特部長將在1月5日通過由塔斯馬尼亞Gunns集團所提出的環境影響管理計劃草案，但他卻出乎外界意料地未批准草案中的L, M和N章節，並且表示要等到釐清所有事實後再做最後決定。
賈瑞特認為Gunns公司在接受建案補助之前，必須先完成一系列的環境測試，而Gunns必須在2011年3月之前重新遞交遭到否決的3個章節草案。
紙漿廠計劃將興建在位於朗斯頓北部的塔馬谷市，鄰近貝爾灣。工廠中所產生的排放物將會經由塔馬河流入將塔斯馬尼亞島與澳洲本島分隔開來的巴斯海峽。
儘管Gunns公司已相當自信地表示這將是全球最環保的紙漿廠，但其提案仍再次被延緩。
雖然澳洲政府並未批准其中3章涉及巴斯海峽排放物的內容，但Gunns集團主席蓋約翰仍大聲高呼此項決議是塔馬谷紙漿廠興建計劃中相當重要的一個關鍵。
蓋約翰也指出，這項提案有條件的批准，已經讓Gunns集團能夠在獲得資金保證的情況下，開始著手興建紙漿廠。考慮到全球的經濟危機，Gunns集團也努力尋找此計劃的贊助商，例如與銀行財團和潛在合資夥伴進行協商。
假如建案批准，賈瑞特表示將會強制執行一項新的條件，即紙漿廠一旦有違反環保標準的行為，Gunns公司需受環境保護及生物多樣性保存法下的刑事和民事處罰。
但也有反對人士表示，紙漿廠在營運的前幾年會大量耗盡天然森林，大規模破壞南半球僅存的溫帶森林，而這些森林支持著瀕危動物的生存，例如楔尾鵰、袋獾、大型淡水螯蝦和虎皮鸚鵡等等。
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has delayed announcing his decision on a proposal for a new $2.2 billion pulp mill in northern Tasmania, saying that further environmental studies must be conducted.
The minister was widely expected to approve the proposal today, but in a surprise move Garrett instead decided not to approve modules L, M and N of the draft Environmental Impact Management Plan submitted by the Tasmanian corporation Gunns "until after all the facts are on the table."
Garrett says Gunns must complete a series of environmental tests before it is granted final approval for the project. Gunns will now have until March 3, 2011, to resubmit the rejected modules of its proposal.
The pulp mill is planned for a location at Bell Bay in the Tamar Valley, north of the city of Launceston. Effluent from the mill would be discharged into the Tamar River, which flows into Bass Strait, the body of water separating the island state of Tasmania from mainland Australia to the north.
Gunns has expressed confidence in what it calls "the world's greenest pulp mill," even though the project has been again delayed.
Gunns chairman John Gay hailed today's decision as a significant achievement for the Tamar Valley mill, despite the Commonwealth's refusal to approve three modules relating to the discharge of effluent into Bass Strait.
Gay says today's conditional approval gives the company the green light to begin construction once it secures financing. The company has been struggling to find financial backers for the project in view of the global economic crisis. Negotiations with a banking syndicate and potential joint venture partners are underway, he said.
If the mill is approved, Garrett announced that a new condition would be imposed. Gunns would be subject to criminal and civil sanctions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act if the mill exceeds certain environmental limits.
But opponents of the mill say it will use mainly native forest in the first few years, destroying large tracts of one of the Southern Hemispheres' last temperate forests. These forests support endangered animals such as the wedge-tailed eagle, Tasmanian devil, giant freshwater crayfish and the swift parrot.
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