http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXNWAaZdR_A

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/06/18/2931239.htm

Transcript

Kathy McLeish reports property owners fear for their livelihoods.

JESSICA van VONDEREN: Queensland is grappling with unprecedented growth. And one of the problems is accommodating more people while protecting the environment. Kathy McLeish reports on a Sunshine Coast group fighting a move to put powerlines through their rural community

KATHY McLEISH: Jack Connolly always wanted to own his own vineyard and his own business.

JACK CONNOLLY, RESIDENT: We spent 12 years looking for our piece of paradise my wife and I

(FOOTAGE OF EERWAH VALE, NORTH WEST OF NOOSA)

KATHY McLEISH: They found it here in Eerwah Vale North West of Noosa.

JACK CONNOLLY: An ancient volcano valley floor and the soil here is so fertile you can plant anything, it will grow

KATHY McLEISH: Jack Connolly says before buying the property he had extra searches done to ensure there were no easements or unknowns that would affect their long term plans.

JACK CONNOLLY’S WIFE: Did the mail come?

JACK CONNOLLY: Yes and I think we’ve got the information.

(JACK CONNOLLY SPEAKS WITH KATHY McLEISH)

JACK CONNOLLY: We even intended to be brought out of here in wooden boxes, but that was before.

KATHY McLEISH: The Queensland Government owned Energy Company Powerlink wants to run a high voltage transmission line through their property and eight and a half kilometres of their neighbours’ properties.

JACK CONNOLLY: Breaks our heart I’ve put my life on hold, I’ve put my business on hold I put my family on hold. We’ve got to just try and get this thing out of our life but if it does proceed it’s going to destroy not only our lives but nobody really wants to be anywhere near this obtrusive development.

(FOOTAGE OF PEOPLE WORKING ON EMISSIONS)

KATHY McLEISH: The land owners are now working on a submission to fight the move. They say though the environmental process is supposed to be centred on community consultation the process has been difficult and at times bordered on obstructive.

JACK CONNOLLY: Whatever we’ve asked they’ve just given a very generic reference: So the fact that they made it hard to access has just been more and more stress put on people.

KATHY McLEISH: Locals say there is a reasonable koala population in the area, but it’s never been mapped by the environment department.

JACK CONNOLLY: We’ve got documented evidence of koala, we’ve got photos of the koala here, we’ve got scratch trees, we’ve got scats, GPS recordings of every scratch tree we found and basically they just say that it is not high value koala habitat.

KATHY McLEISH: They say the habitat of the Richmond Birdwing butterfly will also be affected. Property prices have also been hit some falling as much as $400,000. Locals now fear for their businesses. Conservationist Simon Baltais says there are reasons for concern.

SIMON BALTAIS, QUEENSLAND CONSERVATION: 390 land species and 111 plant species are going to be directly or indirectly potentially impacted by this development. That is a lot of biodiversity that’s going to be impacted. And whether through direct clearing of habitat or reducing canopy which impacts microclimates which impacts a whole range of other species there will be impacts it’s just a matter how severe and how many but this is something we don’t have to do.

KATHY McLEISH; The powerlines action group paid $10,000 to have an independent energy engineer develop an alternative plan.

(JACK CONNOLLY SPEAKS WITH KATHY McLEISH)

JACK CONNOLLY: What we’re talking about in page is saying is not coming down this 18.6ks at all and coming off a family federal and across about 6.3klms to a substation site. What we’re saying is there’s a much cheaper better and doable alternative and using common infrastructure corridors where the land is already fragmented and there’s no social or environmental impact.

KATHY McLEISH: The group argues it’s the cheapest option.

JACK CONNOLLY: Powerlink drew a line on the map and they’ve been defending that drawing of the line rather than seriously looking at what we’ve been saying.

KATHY McLEISH: Powerlink says it has done exhaustive studies and the best option is the one that goes through the properties.

(KATHY McLEISH SPEAKS WITH GORDON JARDINE, POWERLINK)

KATHY McLEISH: The lines will be installed by helicopter but the pillions will be installed from the ground so there will be impact on the habitat won’t there.

GORDON JARDINE, POWERLINK: What we do is try and minimise the amount of clearing we have to by selectively locating these towers and bringing the conductor above the canopy. In relation to alternatives we will always look at alternatives that are put forward in terms of assessing them. There has been an alternative put forward into this latest round of consultation. We’ve only received that a week ago. It’s quite premature to be commenting on the merit or otherwise of that but that will have to be assessed.

KATHY McLEISH; The landholders say a representative should have met with a community group to discuss alternatives.

GORDON JARDINE: Well the way we’d go about this is dictated by the process under the sustainable planning act which has a structured process in terms of various times when we seek submissions and when we respond to those submissions so we’ve done that and then we do all these other things these 4,500 contacts the property owners on top of that.

KATHY McLEISH: Local member David Gibson says this issue shows it’s clearly time for regulations and environmental approval processes to be updated.

DAVID GIBSON, MEMBER FOR GYMPIE: Powerlink have been doing what they’re legally required to do and you know you can say well that isn’t enough but that’s all you know they’re obliged to do. I think what we’ve got to see is a real shift in the way in which Governments and Government owned corporations actually engage in their communities.

KATHY McLEISH: The final decision lies with the Environment and Resources Minister.

JACK CONNOLLY: We believe that we’re going to give them a bit of a shakeup the fights not over yet. They don’t know what’s coming but when they find out when they start reading I think they will be even surprised.

September 24, 2009: A Current Affair reveals what dangers overhead powerlines are really inflicting on nearby residents, and show you the affects in our high voltage experiment.

Click on the image to be taken thorugh to the video shown last night on Channel 9′s A Current Affair.

Source:  Channel 9′s – A Current Affair (24 September 2009)

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/