NT cotton growers have committed to a location for a new gin near Katherine, reigniting fierce debate about the environmental impact of the new industry.
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The Northern Cotton Gin Development Group announced on Monday it has chosen Tarwoo station, 35km from Katherine, as the site for its gin.
Development group chairman David Connolly said the gin will be paid for by a "small group" of unnamed cotton growers in the region, and said any interested growers are welcome to join as planning continues.
"The shareholding group is open to all cotton growers," he said.
Mr Connolly said government money will not be spent on building the gin, but the Development Group expects funds for utilities such as roads and electricity.
The announcement was followed by a statement from Environment Centre NT co-director Kirsty Howey, who called on the NT Government to step in and stop the development.
"We need the Northern Territory Government to listen to Territorians, many of whom have grave concerns about what such a large expansion of the cotton industry would mean for our rivers, our fishing and our lifestyle," she said.
"A cotton gin of this size would require large amounts of water, land and power... in full operation, a cotton gin like this would need at least 832,000 litres per day of water just to keep it running, where is all that water coming from?"
Mr Connolly called the 832,000 litre figure "alarmist" and accused ECNT of "preaching nonsense".
"It's not true, cotton gins use very little water," he said.
He said Katherine residents will benefit from developing the cotton industry in northern Australia, which could be worth $200 million within a decade, according to a 2020 businiess case.
"This gin will have benefits for the whole NT, because of the trickle down economy," he said.
The Development Group has previously said 80 per cent of cotton in the NT would be rain fed, and not rely on irrigated water.
When announcing the Tarwoo gin, Mr Connolly said cotton crops are expected to expand from 3000 hectares to 6000-8000ha next year.
Ms Howey also accused the Development Group of "double speak", arguing public money should not be spent on the utilities required at the gin.
"They've been asking for public money to build this gin for years, when they didn't get it, they switched to asking for taxpayer money to build new power lines and roads on private property," she said.
"That's still public money going straight to a private company, to fund the most expensive part of building a damaging cotton gin and prop up their operations.
"Why should Territory taxpayers fork out our money to prop up big cotton companies when remote communities still lack basic drinking water protections and energy security?"
Funds for a cotton gin were not included in the 2020 NT budget.
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