A Case Study: The Gordon-below-Franklin Dam

Abstract

Chapters 1–6 have set out in outline form the main features of CBA. This chapter shows how some of those principles are applied in practice and the case study selected is the development of the Gordon River system in Tasmania, Australia, for the purposes of hydro-electric power. The project not only contains many fascinating issues in the application of CBA, it has also been the subject of a substantial protest from Australians and from the scientific and environmental community worldwide. The development would destroy an area of wilderness and some areas of outstanding scientific interest, including some containing evidence of early aboriginal settlement which, it is claimed, has significant archeological and anthropological interest. On the other hand, nearly all of Tasmania’s electricity comes from hydro-power, and, at a time of high unemployment, the project offers the prospect of jobs. We thus have the classic ‘trade-off’ between the environment and direct economic gains.