Newletter #9 - To Be Forewarned….
Good Evening Tim,
I hope you've had a good weekend.
I wanted to update you on what’s been going on with EnergyCo since the scoping report was submitted.
Unfortunately the title of the Newsletter wasn’t just to get your attention. It’s probably best if you get a drink and sit down before reading on.
ENERGYCO MEETING: 8 August. Mark Eather (VA treasurer) and I met with EnergyCo at their offices in Sydney. We were actually quietly optimistic prior to the meeting as the feedback from EnergyCo’s route designer tasked with investigating the Aberbaldie TSR had been quite positive. We really should know better by now!
It turns out the route designer has gone to the UK to get married and have his honeymoon for 4 weeks. This was the first we’d heard of the wedding. Which is surprising as most weddings take some planning (unlike transmission lines apparently) . We then found out that EnergyCo would be making a decision on the Aberbaldie at the end of August (prior to Ben’s return) . It’s hard to believe they are putting a huge amount of effort into this when their main man disappears off to Europe and doesnt think to inform us in advance. Luckily his boss Trevor was there to stand in for him. Trevor’s knowledge of the suggested route stopped at the half way point. He hadn’t any clear idea where the line was supposed to go through the state forest unfortunately. We really don’t get much value for our taxpayer dollars!
So where does that leave us ? This is where the forewarned sentence comes in. It was very clear that the Aberbaldie option is not going to be seriously considered by EnergyCo. They are not looking for the pros of the route only the cons. The main one being that Visual impact could be greater on this route.
In summary based on EnergyCo’s Multi Criteria Analysis of the 2 routes:
Distance & Cost - TSR is 45 Km shorter (Option 1C) . An estimated saving of $607 million dollars (based on estimated costs for Humelink). This is not disputed by EnergyCo BUT they refuse to take that route and prefer to look at a longer route out through Forest Way & Lindsay’s Gap (EnergyCo option 1B). There are more impacted farms and greater distance on 1B. They will not give us an answer as to why they stick with this route. IT MAKES ZERO SENSE.
Farming & Environment - TSR superior Less impact on farming enterprises and environmentally sensitive land. No impact on Koalas, Spotted quolls, platypus and Booroolong Frogs. The TSR will continue to be used as a TSR after construction without any issues.
Constructability & access : TSR superior - Largely flat land, serviced by bitumen road for a lot of the route. TSR has lower co-location between Walcha & Glenrock but then joins an existing easement at Glenrock to Bayswater.
Asset resilience & response: TSR superior - Better access for maintenance & decreased issues related to bushfire
Community impact: TSR superior - Less directly impacted landholders and less visually impacted landholders (route 1C).
Environment & land use (HVAL, BSAL): TSR superior . Current Route impacts more Biophysical Strategic Agricultural Land (BSAL) & High Value Agricultural Land (HVAL)
Bush fire risk assessment: TSR Superior - The risk to assets and community is significantly decreased.
Public land use : TSR superior by a large margin. TSR will still able to be used as a Travelling Stock Route post construction. Resulting in less counterparties to negotiate with and faster time to construction.
Expected cost & time saving: TSR superior. Not dealing with impacted landholders is expected to be significantly cheaper . Better access will decrease costs related to construction significantly.
Tourist impact (brewery, Jackeroo school, Chaffey Dam): TSR superior, No tourist impact
OTHER NEWS
Parliamentary Inquiry Announced: INQUIRY INTO THE IMPACT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY ZONES (REZs) ON RURAL AND REGIONAL COMMUNITIES AND INDUSTRIES IN NEW SOUTH WALES- (LINK to website)The committee will examine the impacts of REZs and large scale renewable projects proposed for these zones, including factors such as potential fire risk, socioeconomic benefits, and effects on agricultural production, tourism and the environment. This will be a large opportunity to be heard. We will be asking you to make submissions to the inquiry. If you don’t get involved in this it’s very hard to make a case for not having transmission lines in our community.
NEXT STEPS:
Valley Alliance Meetings :
Dungowan pub 23 August 6pm . Valley Alliance (Tim White & Campbell Mcintosh) will be asking you to sign letters of objection to the scoping report ( I might even shout you a beer!)
Woolomin Hall 23 August 6pm Free BBQ (Jenny Wright & team) will be cooking snags and answering questions. They will also be set up to get you to sign objection letters.
EnergyCo Meetings :
Woolomin Hall 3 September . 3.30-6.30pm , EnergyCo will be releasing their report regarding the Aberbaldie TSR option. They have informed us that they will not have group Q&A but that there will be stations around the room . This is their divide and conquer mentality at its worst. VA asked them for group Q&A and for a later start time (some of us have jobs but EnergyCo have to be back in town for a dinner reservation). Similar to previous meetings we ask that everyone turns up at 5pm. More to follow.
We are stronger together and we will all need to play a part if we are going to be successful.
Thanks for keeping our community united! See you at the VA events
Tim