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Greens throw in support behind PAGE
The Greens have thrown in their support behind PAGE, the powerlines action group.
Wide Bay Greens candidate, Dr Jim McDonald says state agencies are running amok over the interests of people in Queensland. He said that they seem to be working from the same manual used by coal miners and the gas extraction industry.
"When you look at Traveston, the Cooroy to Curra diversion of the Bruce Highway, the Colton Coal mine planned to be dug 3 kilometres from Aldershot in the Wide Bay Electorate, and Powerlink's Woolooga to South Cooroy project, each case has a common element.
"That element is to tell affected residents what they are going to do and then they concentrate on how to best achieve the initial plan. It's all about steamrolling people.
"Another tactic is to pull the pea and thimble trick by introducing alternatives to a road or a power line that they have no intention of seriously considering and then settling on the preferred option they always intended building.
"People are not fools and Government agencies build up months and even years of aggravation by treating people as if they were. It's inefficient and dishonest.
"Consultation is not a matter of telling people what you are going to do. Consultation is about sitting down with stakeholders and negotiating a resolution of the concerns which they have raised.
"The best outcome that Powerlink has been able to achieve in the planned construction of a new power line from Woolooga to South Cooroy is to change the name of the project after years of intransigence. It is now called the 'Woolooga to Eerwah Vale Transmission Line and Eerwah Vale Substation Project'!
"Meanwhile the government agency is pushing ahead with plans to route the new transmission line and sub station project through a significant nature corridor and prime agricultural land.
"The inefficiency of the project beggars description. The proposed route will cost taxpayers an additional $18m to take the powerlines through high quality farms, bush, hills, and rare habitat, when they could follow existing easements. You have to ask whether it is stupidity or hubris.
"Powerlink's intention to run powerlines up and down 55 degree hills is inexplicable, when it is clear that 45 - 70 metre towers will be erected on hillsides, which will be unstable once the vegetation is cleared for their construction. There are rare species in that unique wilderness area.
"The purpose apparently is to provide an alternative loop in the case of a break in transmission, but it is not clear why they would choose to route the line over such steep hills which would be less stable than the current routes.
"Powerlink says 'there are no social, environmental or cultural heritage factors that prevent the project from proceeding'. What about koalas, rare species, good farmland, property market devaluation, visual pollution, and destruction of habitat? And what is the Department of Environment and Resource Management doing to protect them? Nothing, it seems."
Dr Jim McDonald
Greens Candidate
Wide Bay Electorate
04 June 2010
Permanent Link: Greens throw in support behind PAGE
Publish Date: 04 Jun 10
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Comments / Have your say
Powerlink's paid, supervised and financially dependent EIS consultant (Parsons Brinkerhoff), despite having no legal qualifications to render legal opinions, repeats Powerlink's told false conclusions rendering the EIS a sham. The EIS report even deliberately ignores a necessary 11 km section in order to produce unfair data comparisons to PAGE's 7km SHORTEST and required LEAST COSTS route.
Plain and simple, Powerlink, the State and the Energy Minister are deliberately defrauding 90% of the landowners of required resumption compensation in an unlawful attempt to save hidden costs.
You have my vote, Jim, for recognizing the criminal realities of Powerlink's and the States repeated actions.
Thinking globally and acting locally is an intelligent approach which we should all aspire to....and World Environment Day on the 5th June...is a reminder that we should all take action to preserve and nourish our life source...a healthy environment.
The present Powerlink proposal is an burdensome imposition on our environment.
The concerns you have expressed above are valid and these concerns should be closely examined...as a priority... by the supposed perpetrators of such a proposal before this outdated infrastructure damages and destroys that which cannot be replaced.
Playing ignorant by using outdated desktop data will not protect our environment.
Powerlink..... there is a moral obligation here which should be respected.
Platypus
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