| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Wind farm approved on questionable data
Credit: The Courier, www.thecourier.com.au 14 February 2012 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
I believe it has now been proved that the Chepstowe wind farm planning permit was only approved because the information provided to the Minister of Planning about the Chepstowe brolga population was a misrepresentation of facts.
The Pyrenees Shire as responsible authority for the project has recently been asked by over 50 of its ratepayers to cancel the permit under the Planning and Environment Act.
Greens MLC, Greg Barber, along with Breaze and FOE was given key information and asked to help fight the wind farm prior to the hearing, but these so-called environmentalists were happy for a wind farm to be built at any cost to the local environment or threatened species, and did not object to the proponent omitting information which would have prevented the permit from being approved. A wind farm can be built somewhere outside of environmentally sensitive areas, but species are much more difficult to relocate, as there is really nowhere else for them to go.
Now it has been proved, with the assistance of the Victorian Ombudsman, that the proponent has omitted key brolga nest site data, has ignored two flocking sites within three kilometres of the proposed wind farm, has not followed the agreed method of mapping home ranges and has not followed the DSE guidelines for buffering brolga habitat from wind farms. Both the Pyrenees Shire and DSE management were involved in this project, and for reasons yet unknown, made no attempt at the hearing to make the minister aware of the omitted data.
After the minister approved the project, DSE was asked why key DSE data was not used. The data then mysteriously disappeared off the DSE database. The shire and DSE denied any complicity, but internal documentation obtained shows both were well aware of the data omission. Documentation shows some DSE staff attempted to have data included, but failed. After more questioning and more evidence was provided, coincidently three key DSE managers have been replaced in the last few months. The new DSE director has determined data did disappear and last week committed to have it returned to the database.
I have asked Greg Barber to recognise that the permit for Chepstowe should now be cancelled, and asked he stand up for truth, honesty, integrity and the protection of the threatened brolga.
HAMISH CUMMING
Darlington
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=19137 ]
