Central-West Orana REZ Transmission

These wind turbines use more energy than coal, they harm wildlife, their sound frequencies are harmful and they are a money exchange not an electricity solution!!!

I object to wind turbines being installed around these areas as they are noisy and have been known to threaten bird life, they’re also have been incidences of them catching on fire and the turbines dumped and not recycled .

I oppose the building of a workers camp at Neely lane Cassilis. There is no planning for the extra traffic of up to eight hundred people from the site to the working area. No additional funds for road repairs .No consultation with land owners on the roads being used. No allowances for landowners who have land on both sides of these roads as in stock crossing,machinery’s crossing and local school traffic. The covering of local farming land with multiple buildings were there is only one building permit for single home. No allowances for the loss of local tranquility caused by the increased traffic of up to six hundred vehicle movements per day No allowance for telecommunications as mobile coverage is very variable in the area. THESE MONSTROUS POWER LINES SHOULD BE UNDERGROUND

This submission is in response to Energy Corporation’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) regarding the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (CWOREZ) transmission project.

As a resident of Cassilis, my submission focuses on impacts in Cassilis and near-by areas. The points I’d like to make concern:
1. Proposed worker traffic route through Cassilis village
2. Golden Highway OSOM route, Merriwa to Cassilis
3. Cumulative social impacts on Cassilis village.

1. Proposed worker traffic route through Cassilis village:
The location of a TWA camp at Neeley’s Lane near Ulan Road is a reasonable choice as it is on rural land adjacent to a road already used for mining transport. However, the current proposal for workers to travel through Cassilis to the northern transmission line is inappropriate for several reasons:

• The turnoff from Golden Highway is unsafe for turning left into Cassilis from the Ulan side, Only last week I had to pull off onto the verge of Golden Highway because a large tanker was bearing down on me, accelerating down the hill in order to approach the steep hill beyond the Cassilis turnoff. The intersection isn’t lit and can be foggy. A couple of years ago I made a funding application to install solar lights at this intersection, but was unsuccessful.

• Vehicles using the proposed route must cross the Munmurra River to enter Cassilis Village and the bridge is narrow, old and lacks a footpath. Residents walk across the bridge for exercise and to access the local park, tennis courts, campground, bowling club and Anglican church. Residents have advocated with Upper Hunter Shire Council about the lack of safety for pedestrians and the need for a footbridge. The bridge, which was built around 1936, is not suitable for constant heavy traffic. In 2020 Cassilis District Development Group applied for ‘Streets as shared spaces’ funding through UHSC to improve the bridge safety with a pedestrian walkway but again we were unsuccessful. Although the dangers of the bridge and its approaches were noted, there were no funds for a walkway or to replace the bridge.

• In the EIS Technical Paper 13, the preferred route includes Ancrum Street, Cassilis, which is described as ‘A short section of local road in Cassilis town centre..’, ‘Sealed with unsealed shoulders and no line marking’, and as a ‘Bidirectional two-lane road (one lane in each direction) 50 km/h’. However, what is not mentioned, from what must have been only a desktop audit, is that it is a steep hill on which heavy vehicles make a lot of noise in low gear with many choosing to travel on other roads through the main streets of the village instead of using Ancrum Street. Even if we consider light workers’ vehicles, the stated one car every 2 minutes at shift changes will create a great deal of disturbance in this very quiet residential area.

• At the top of Ancrum Street the preferred workers’ route turns left onto Old Coolah Road. Again, what is missing here is any notation that there is a primary school here, with no footpaths, no pedestrian crossings, no human traffic control apart from school staff, no roadside pull-off area for school pick-ups and drop-offs, and no flashing lights. I think that it is unsafe to have an industrial high-flow traffic route here.

A better route than through the village of Cassilis would be from Neeley’s lane to Vinegaroy Road and Rotherwood Road. Indeed, this is the chosen route for Tilt Renewables Liverpool Range Windfarm project, because the community had clearly stated it didn’t want a workers traffic route through the village. Why not all use the same route?

2. Golden Highway OSOM route, Merriwa to Cassilis:
I understand that highway upgrades and realignments are to occur but as I haven’t read of any specific details, I want to point out that the section of highway between Merriwa and Cassilis, which I drive regularly, is relatively narrow, winding and presents very few opportunities to overtake other vehicles. Oversize and over mass vehicles are particularly difficult to overtake and present a danger as drivers on the highway can be impatient and may try to overtake in unsafe conditions. Please plan for overtaking lanes through this section of highway.

3. Cumulative social impacts on Cassilis village:
Although both Energy Co and Tilt express positivity about the economic and employment benefits offered to local communities by their respective projects, unfortunately the tiny size of Cassilis means residents are likely to find more disadvantages than benefits. There are no shops, only a pub and bowling club. The Neeley Lane TWA camp will need to be very well managed to avoid unsociable behaviour spillage into Casslis village. If Tilt’s planned Cassilis TWA goes ahead, the population will be outnumbered 10 to 1 with temporary workers, and the Tilt camp will be walking distance from the club and pub. Ideally, the Tilt TWA should be located on the other side of Cassilis village, on land within their windfarm project, not on the scenic approach to our historic village. We would like Cassilis to develop as a tourist destination with a wealth of heritage, not to be seen as an industrial camp.

I hope you will consider these points and make planning adjustments to reduce the negative impacts of the Energy Co transmission line project, and the cumulative impacts of multiple projects on our small village.

Berni Aquilina
6/11/2023

See attached

I don't want the district covered in high voltage transmission lines and towers. I don't want the area to be turned into an industrial landscape of wind turbines on the hills with fields of solar panels and the associated environmental costs of each, any or all.

I strongly object to the project as a voting citizen of Australia. This project is not a reflection of what the people want in Australia. It will be visually unappealing, steal valuable farming land lacks true scientific validity.

Please see attachment

I object to the Neeley's Lane TWA location completely due to its negative impacts on Cassilis village.

Among other issues, I have serious concerns about road safety during the transmission construction and the risk of fatal vehicle accidents.

See attached submission for full detail.

I object to the CWO REZ as I believe it is being rushed through without proper due process and appropriate consultation. I think it is important that landholders have the right to choose if they want wind turbines or solar panels on their land, and similarly, they should have the right to choose to not have transmission lines on their property as a direct result of somebody else’s decision. Transmission lines can have a dramatic negative impact on the environment and farming activities, severely hampering the viability of production for the long term. Whilst wind and sun are free green sources of energy, that are needed for the future, the production, transportation, installation, transmission and eventual removal are anything but green. The waste produced, impact to local communities and destruction to the environment to facilitate these installations have not properly been addressed.
The EIS does not have enough detail and is missing 29 crucial plans that are referred to throughout the document. The local councils do not have the appropriate staff, time and resources to adequately scrutinise the document, let alone manage the roads and waste that will be produced during construction. Where will the large volumes of water come from and what happens to that wastewater? What provisions are there for fire control, during construction and the longer term, surely volunteers cannot be expected to carry this load. What impact will there be on aerial firefighting once completed? How will the already poor roads that have been over rated in the EIS cope with the increased volume of traffic expected? During construction there will be 2 workers camps, 1800 additional people are expected in an area that already has stretched medical services, what solutions have been proposed to satisfactorily deal with this?
There are too many unknowns to consider this a good option.

I live in Kiama, we will also be getting turbines - unless we can stop them!
Government has to properly consult and if necessary compensate people properly

I strongly object to the installation of transmission lines and towers. The wind turbines and solar panels. All of these so called GREEN energy installations! They are ruining the environment, destroying our land and our community. All these people sitting in their high rises surrounded with all their up to the minute technology, using more electricity than their country counterparts, think it’s fine to just destroy our way of life so they can somehow feel better about themselves. Well no, we’ve had enough! Stop dumping all your ‘solutions’ on us and come up with a plan that will actually work and not destroy our beautiful area!

Many small communities like ours are having to bear the burden of renewable energy infrastructure projects. These projects are having major impacts on families like ours all over the central west of NSW. Not only is it changing the rural lifestyle we have chosen, but it’s also having financial consequences on the value of our properties. This project & many others are not suitable for our region. Politicians need to stand up & find real energy solutions for the country & stop taking the easy path. The transmission lines are only need for the short term benefit that wind & solar brings.

Because renewable energy electricity generation is acknowledged as being inherently weather dependent there is a belief by AEMO that this intermittency of power supply can be averaged out by interconnectors or more high voltage transmission lines if you like, which it hopes will improve reliability through geographic diversity. If one region is in a wind or sun drought, then AEMO hopes tother regions won't be, and perhaps generate enough surplus power to supply those that are short.

National building is not built on the hope that something might work, but on proof that it will or will not work long before committing hard funding. There is no proof whatsoever that a massive overbuild in transmission will solve the basic flaw of renewable energy, and that is that it is weather dependent. Analytical studies and modeling need to be carried out before any more money is wasted on excess transmission.

Further expansion of the grid will more than likely only cause more harm to the natural environment and render valuable farmland next to worthless. Reduction in farm values should be an obvious tangible negative cost. It is unacceptable just to pay host landowners some compensation as the erosion of property values is experienced by the wider neighbouring communities. This cost needs to be the subject of wider research and inquiry.

I object to this project as I recently bought and moved into Dunedoo, 18 months ago, and at the time was totally unaware of this plan.
My reasons for moving to Dunedoo were to enjoy my retirement in what is a beautiful township surrounded by excellent farming land and do not want to see this township ruined by this new infrastructure or have to look at these unsightly solar and wind farms compared to the now picturesque view of sheep grazing and lambs frolicking in the pastures. Also the cattle and the wonderful sight of canola crops flowering.

I object to this project for the reasons stated below.
CWO REZ Transmission SSI-448323210
After living in the area for 18 months even I can plainly see that the district cannot handle the amount of water extraction, rubbish disposal including effluents and waste. Already the Dunedoo sewerage system cannot keep up with demand.
It doesn't take much of a dry time for water restrictions through the district to be imposed, the water supply cannot handle any extra extraction of water especially the amount needed for this project.

Please find attached submission of objection

Wind turbines are completely useless and a blight on the environment. They are also not cost efficient and represent a problem for disposal at life end. One only has to drive by the existing wind farms to see how ineffective they are, hanging limply on most occasions. Diurnal conditions dictate that wind turbines will be most ineffective when needed the most. The amount of wildlife habitat being destroyed defies logic.

APA provided comment regarding this project in October 2022 Department Ref: SSI-48323210, APA Ref: 453088.
A review of current documentation EIS provides no further detail of concern to APA. Refer to previous submission for detailed comments, in particular noting inclusion of APA pipeline assets in project mapping.
APA provides no further comments for the current project assessment.

See attachment