birding-aus

windfarms and Barren Grounds

To: "michael hunter" <>, "Evan Beaver" <>
Subject: windfarms and Barren Grounds
From: "Bill Stent" <>
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 10:38:50 +1000
>  The scale of turbine visiblity dwarfs that of powerstations.

Are you kidding?

I'm not all that familiar with facilities in NSW but here in Victoria
you only have to drive down the Princess Highway through the Latrobe
Valley to see what a mess the coal mining area is.  There are smoke
stacks, huge open-cut mines, steam cooling towers, etc.  The haze from
the coal burning casts a pall that drifts many kilometres downrange, not
to mention the hole in the ozone layer.

On a quiet day you can hear the OBPs and bats coughing.

Bill




-----Original Message-----
From: michael hunter
Sent: Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:09 AM
To: Evan Beaver
Cc: 
Subject: windfarms and Barren Grounds

Thankyou Evan.

                        Why should the local Victorians not oppose a
wind farm in their beloved landscape?
                        I know Capertee well, the Valley is rural but
visually unpolluted and a decidedly beautiful Australian Landscape, as
opposed to the Great Australian Ugliness, of which windfarms are an
extension. Who would favour a windfarm on top of the Capertee
escarpments? There's plenty of wind up there, and if you think that the
commercial protaganists of windfarms haven't,  looked at those
escarpments, and aren't still looking, think again.

                         The Wallerawang powerstation you refer to is a
long way from Capertee Valley, and set in a relatively indifferent
landscape. It also has a large dam associated with it, hosting many
birds from Sea-eagles and Great Crested Grebes down.
                          The suggestion that because it and Lithgow are
already there doesn't mean that it's OK to have windfarms scattered
over really attractive land. The scale of turbine visiblity dwarfs that
of powerstations.
                        Wind turbines have sprung up in what once looked
like pristine  Blue Mountains National Park, visible south of the Great
Western Highway from the last corner before Bowenfels (Lithgow), a sight
to bring tears to the eye of any  environmentalist. These are obvious
because they are white (or silver) against the forested background of
the mountains, not because they are protruding above the horizon. Maybe
they could paint them green so that they would be less apparent.
                       Many developments can be and are hidden, but wind
turbines are appallingly intrusive and inescapable to the eye from k's
away.


                         Do the pro-windmillers have a hidden agenda or
do they just like the look of wind turbines? Is this discussion about
OBPs, aesthetics, or the apparent inconsistency of the Federal
Government? How many kilowatts is an OBP worth?




Cheers

Michael

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