saveeumundi.org

Community members endeavouring to respond to a 1900-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) regarding high voltage powerlines and pylons have called an extension granted by project proponent Powerlink as ‘half-hearted’.

“We’re calling it for what it is – a half-hearted attempt to quell community discontent,” said Dr John Cronin, spokesperson for the Powerline Action Group of Eumundi (PAGE).

“Powerlink are boasting that they’ve given affected residents an extra two weeks, when, in actual fact, people still need to lodge their submissions by Friday’s deadline in order to qualify for the ‘extension’.

“You don’t have a Masters in manipulation see that Powerlink are still hell bent on dissuading people from exercising their right to have a say.”

The lead statement in a Powerlink media release issued yesterday (Friday 8 May) stated: ‘Community members intending to lodge submissions on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Woolooga to Cooroy South [Eerwah Vale] transmission line project now have an additional two weeks to submit supplementary/supporting information relating to their submissions’.

It then states: ‘To qualify for the additional time, submitters must still lodge their submissions on the Draft EIS with environmental consultants PB, on or before the closing date of Friday, 15 May 2009’.

“It’s hardly a showstopper,” said Dr Cronin.

“The steamroller is still stuck in overdrive, which is why it remains as important as ever that people lodge a submission and make their voice heard; even if it’s just to make one point that they feel passionate about.”

PAGE is encouraging people to visit their website at http://www.saveeumundi.org or email contact@saveeumundi.org for assistance in submitting a response.

During the past month, PAGE has fought for local residents’ right to fair community consultation and for a more appropriate time period to respond to the project’s draft EIS – a document intended to justify the project over alternatives, in addition to comprehensively assessing its environmental, social and economic impacts.

Last Saturday (2 May), a 70-strong crowd attending a community meeting at the Eumundi CWA Hall issued a resounding call to Premier Anna Bligh to give local residents a ‘fair go’. The group had also previously written to the Energy Minister Stephen Robertson, after being refused extensions from both Powerlink and commissioned consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) Australia, which produced the draft EIS.

“I suspect this quasi extension is just some feeble attempt to ‘do the right thing’ in the face of bad publicity,” said Dr Cronin.

“We’d like to know what information is defined as ‘supporting’ or ‘supplementary’, and what criteria, if any, might be used to reject submission components lodged on this basis?”

PAGE, also known as People Advocating Green Energy, is a not-for-profit community organisation committed to promoting sustainable ways to meet the Sunshine Coast’s future energy needs, and to working constructively with the Queensland Government and its agencies to do so.

Since forming 18 months, the volunteer residents group has worked tirelessly to investigate and deliver a viable, sustainable, renewable energy solution to powering the coast into the future – one which is in line with the Queensland Government’s Toward Q2 vision for a greener Queensland and its associated targets, and respects the coast’s environmental integrity, including the former Noosa Shire’s UNESCO Biosphere status – a Queensland first.

“We are proud of what we have been able to achieve, through community action, to bring civic and business leaders, and communities together in an effort to one day make clean, sustainable energies a reality in the power profile of the Sunshine Coast and Queensland,” said Dr Cronin.

“Part of this process has seen the development of a viable non-network alternative, which includes significant ‘bankable’ demand management initiatives and scalable, local renewable solar-thermal generation with storage capacity, plus real employment opportunities for locals through the creation of green jobs.

“Supported by industry and local council, this community is taking on the sustainability challenge and we invite government agencies to not only join us, but to help lead the way.”

For more information on the alternatives and the campaign to date, visit PAGE’s website at htttp://www.saveeumundi.org

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