From: The Mercury

Activist arrested as Huon Wood Centre is targeted
NICK CLARK
13jul06

A PROTESTER was arrested yesterday after Weld Valley activists targetted the site of the controversial proposed power station at Southwood, now known as the Huon Wood Centre.

Two people chained themselves to the gate of the site in the Huon Valley and 15 others blockaded the road.

Spokesman Will Mooney said the group wanted the state government and Forestry Tasmania to tell them about plans for the wood-fired power station.

"Our research confirms that a proposal by American company NP Power has been awaiting approval from the Federal Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator," Mr Mooney said, adding recent work at the site suggested an announcement was imminent.

NP Power director Timothy Flato was unavailable for comment.

The developers, NP Biomass and Babcock and Brown, received a permit from the Huon Valley Council in 2002.

But it is understood the project is on the backburner because it relies on the sale of renewable energy certificates to make it viable. The certificates are selling at low prices.

The $60 million forest furnace, first proposed in 1998, would burn about 300,000 tonnes of wood from the southern forests.

Huon Wood Centre manager Dario Tomat said the protest had inconvenienced other operators at the site, Neville Smith Timber and the construction of a rotary veneer mill.