Hills of Gold Wind Farm

I wish to lodge a submission regarding abovenamed major project and am having problems creating an account because the website is not responding. As the closing date for submissions is today I wish to lodge my objection to this proposal for environmental vandalism. When the project was originally mooted the developers said if there was sufficient opposition from the community they would abandon the proposal. Apart from being a gigantic eyesore on a magnificent rural landscape and affecting Nundle's tourism industry, Wind Turbines are useless if the wind is not blowing! They are also detrimental to the environment when discarded as they are made from non biodegradable materials. I urge your department to oppose this application on behalf of the people of Nundle and all the citizens of NSW who wish to keep their beautiful rural landscapes as nature created them.

Thank you for your email below requesting comment from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) on a development application and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hills of Gold Wind Farm project located near Hanging Rock NSW, SSD-9679 refers.

CASA has reviewed the information provided and the recommendations at Section 11 of the Aviation Impact Statement (AIS) are sound and should be adopted. In addition, the Airservices Australia recommendations of 16 October 2020 included in AIS Section 9.2 Table 2 and section 10.5 must be implemented.

CASA considers the proposed wind farm to be a hazard to aviation safety and does not agree with recommendation 10 Lighting of Turbines. CASA recommends that the wind farm is obstacle lit with steady medium intensity red lighting in accordance with the National Airports Safeguarding Framework Guideline D Managing the Risk of Wind Turbine Farms as Physical Obstacles to Air Navigation National Airports Safeguarding Framework Principles and Guidelines (infrastructure.gov.au) and section 9.31 of Part 139 Aerodromes Manual of Standards Part 139 (Aerodromes) Manual of Standards 2019 (legislation.gov.au).

CASA is prepared to review a lighting plan that indicates which turbines are proposed to be lit. CASA does not consider the effect of lighting on neighbours, however notes there are recommended treatments listed in Section 9.2 Table 17 of the AIS.

The EIS Section 3.2.3 Wind Turbine Generators ‘Obstacle Lighting’ advises that two flashing red medium intensity lights per turbine may be required. CASA expects that flashing lights would be excessively environmentally severe. The remainder of the section on obstacle lighting is accurate. CASA has no issues with Section 11.4.3 Night Lighting.

AIS section 3.7 Rules of Flight advises that aircraft are restricted to a height of 500ft above ground level (AGL) and 1,000ft at night. The turbines will reach a height of 230m (755ft) above ground level. While pilots are required to fly no lower than 500ft above the ground or any object on the ground, a pilot could be off track or at a low level due to weather related events, navigation difficulties or other circumstances including controllability issues. The charting of a wind farm is one mitigator but does not eliminate the risk of an aircraft colliding with a turbine.

Further to Recommendation 1, on commencement of the installation of the first turbine or 155m high Wind Monitoring Tower if preceding the turbines, Airservices Australia should be requested to publish a NOTAM advising pilots that construction of tall structures is imminent. Details can be reported to the Airservices Australia Vertical Obstacle Database (VOD) by email at: [email protected].

Further to Recommendation 6, AIS section 3.15 advises that aerial firefighting operations are conducted in day Visual Flight Rules. CASA recommends additional consultation with the NSW Rural Fire Service regarding the possibility of night aerial firefighting operations using night vision apparatus as there is a trend towards night aerial firefighting.

Further to Recommendation 9, CASA recommends that the following Australian Standards be considered regarding the overhead transmission lines:
• AS 3891.1, Air navigation — Cables and their supporting structures — Marking and safety requirements, Part 1: Marking of overhead cables and supporting structures
• AS 3891.2, Air navigation — Cables and their supporting structures — Marking and safety requirements, Part 2: Low-level aviation operations.
A copy of the standards are available on the Standards Australia website: Standards Australia - Standard Organisation in Australia.

Further to Recommendation 11, the five Wind Monitoring Towers in the order of 155m AGL must be marked to some extent, depending on the proximity to the surrounding turbines. If the Wind Monitoring Towers are to be installed before the turbines, then they should incorporate a medium intensity red obstacle light at night.

It should be noted that CASA does not allow; but rather recommends.

I trust this information is of assistance.

Attached.

I object to the Hills of Gold Wind farm. The previous concerns have not been overcome and amendments are not acceptable. I live in Woolomin and have access to a weekender at Hanging Rock.

The Amendments have not addressed where the workers will be housed. This is neither transparent nor fair to the small communities involved. A sudden influx of workers can create social anxiety and changes the character of an area. This objection has not been addressed. SEARS required full transparency and a visual assessment of all aspects of the project, so this has not been met.

Concerns around the bushfire risk of turbines and infrastructure have not been solved. I am concerned that if a fire is not contained, it may spread quickly through Hanging Rock to Woolomin and Duncan’s creek, so this is also highly relevant to residents outside of the project zone. It is unacceptable that this project could be approved with so much construction occurring in flame zone areas. It is my belief that Tamworth council will not approve house construction in flame zone areas; I therefore believe that this should also apply to this remote area, with such high risk, especially given the removal of water fire fighting resources, these being no access to the existing fire fighting dam at Nycooma, where a turbine will be.

As a resident of Woolomin I am concerned about the impact on the water table and the flow into the Peel River, Duncan’s Creek and their tributaries due to the construction around a new access road opposite the oval and behind the Nundle Inn. This is a flood zone and compacted land would redirect water elsewhere.

The impact of the construction of the turbine footings, hard stands and other infrastructure has not been assessed sufficiently that residents of Woolomin and surrounding areas downstream of Chaffey Dam can be confident that they won’t be affected. Full hydrology reports and modelling should have been done and presented to the community.

DPE should reject this proposal as flood risks have not been adequately assessed. If water runs off the mountains into the peel because ground works prevent absorption, then this can affect the flow of water. Likewise, the expanded quarry may affect the flow of water into tributaries leading to Duncan’s Creek. This is of particular concern because flash flooding occurred in Woolomin in October 2022 because of heavy rains at Hanging Rock which caused Duncan’s creek to over flow into some streets in Woolomin. What is the impact of the quarry?

The increased traffic along Nundle road continues to be a great concern to safety.

The change in character to Nundle and Hanging Rock is detrimental to the future of the area. People love the country atmosphere and that will be removed and cannot be resolved.

This project should be rejected due to unresolved risks and drawbacks.

I first came to Nundle in 2008. I remember the long drive from our city home at the time and despite me and my sibling’s eagerness to see the new place we had a long and tiresome trip. I remember waking up and opening my eyes to the beautiful range before the turnoff to Nundle and becoming breathless at the picturesque hills. I had never seen anything quite like it and my young mind was not quite able to process the beauty. Little did I know the impact this beautiful place would have on me, the childhood memories to come that I look back on so fondly or the time I spent after university helping my parents on the land. Still to this day, whenever I make the drive to Nundle from wherever I have come from and I come to the turnoff and am faced with the range I stop a little longer to take it all in because it is a sight unlike anywhere else.
The hills of gold windfarm proposal has brought a shadow over the region for the past four years. The once harmonious community now splintered with fear for the future of the town. Nundle is a place where you come to escape the bustle of the modern world, a place where the slow pace is valued over the busyness we so often find everywhere. It is a place where people valued having a chat in the middle of the street over hurrying to get somewhere.
Even if you don’t care about the community that has been disrupted think of the flora and fauna that will be impacted in this development. A forest that has been growing undisturbed for hundreds of years. The thousands of animals that live in these hills whose lives will be severely impacted if a windfarm is built here. It’s honestly insane to me that people would even think of building a windfarm here in a place so undisturbed, a place which should be protected.
Despite the first submissions where multiple people talked in detail about the devastating effects of the windfarm on the ecosystems, the amendments in the EIS has now created greater impacts on the ecosystem.
This windfarm proposal is green washing - How can a project advertise it’s ‘green’ but simultaneously propose large land clearings of old growth forests and putting many native and local animals in danger.
Once the land is cleared it will be impossible to re-establish such a rich and biodiverse area again.
What is the point of renewable energy if you are going to clear all the trees and the environment in the process?
It honestly breaks my heart every time the wind farm comes up in conversation.
As a young person in today’s society, I think it’s important to protect the environment especially old forests. Forests need to be protected - these forests hold fragile ecosystems which will not endure if people continue to impact the land.
Come to Nundle, take the drive, look at the range and I am convinced you will feel the same way.

I object to the Hills of Gold Wind Farm. I am a resident of Woolomin and also have a “weekender” cabin in Hanging Rock.

The DA Amendment doesn’t solve objections raised previously by the community regarding increased bushfire risk. I am still greatly concerned that the placement of turbines in key fire fighting locations will limit fire fighting capacity.
The removal of the water source at Nycooma for fighting fires and the staging area at Turnip Trail to enable the hosting of turbines reduces fire fighting capacity. I am surprised that this could be considered especially due to the fires that occured in 2019/2020 in the area and that I've read about in previous submissions.

An examination of Appendix K reveals that 2/3 of turbines are in the Flame zone (FZ) area and the majority of infrastructure. This places workers and the community at a greater than acceptable risk. The remote location of this wind farm requires a conservative approach to asset and human protection and nothing should be in a flame zone, especially when there are sufficient wind energy projects in the pipeline at safer locations.

If a fire was to occur after the wind farm was constructed, I would be concerned for the residents in Woolomin and Duncan's creek. Pearsons Trail fire occurred in 2019/2020 and crossed to properties on Duncan's creek road, which is in the general vicinity of the project edges with the inclusion of the expanded quarry.

The location of the expanded quarry in Verden's road again places greater strain on the road network. Will workers be using Duncan's creek road to access the quarry? Will empty trucks be returning to Tamworth via this same road? This has not been relevant previously but is not impossible.

Woolomin and Duncan's creek residents have not been directly consulted yet we are a "sister city" of types to Nundle and work closely together.

This project should be denied so that the communities can heal and move forward.

The ruination of the Nundle landscape by the installation of monstrous bird killing industrial eyesores would be a tragedy. This project should not progress. For five years the majority have said they do not want their beautiful environment destroyed - the social licence does not exist and this project should not proceed.

I am a longterm resident and neighbourthe of project. I believe the windfarm will bring considerable short term and sustained longterm benefits and opportunities to the area and the tamworth/upper hunter region.

This project is inappropriate for this area. The community has already voiced their opinion in opposition to this Wind Farm Project.
Through the Planning Act the developer has been given an opportunity to fix the problems in the EIS identified by the community. The Developer has been allowed to amend and refine the project further, all at the expense of the community, who now have to go through the process again.
Is it not enough that the community have had this hanging over their heads since 2018. They are fatigued and overwhelmed by this developer biased process.
While the community is advocating for the township and surrounds and the natural floral and fauna, who is advocating for them. Who is considering the social impact and the detriment to the residents? Who is considering their health and wellbeing, their lifestyles and livelihood?
This is a very unfair process that favours the developer not the community where the residents are expected to be severely impacted for the benefit of others. The negative impacts are many and the benefits are few.

I believe in preservation, whether it’s beautiful landscape or environment. I don't want to see anything destroyed and it's counterproductive installing wind farms in places where they are hard to construct.
It will cause a real pain for the communities of Nundle, Hanging Rock and others around the wind farm. Especially for those on lifestyle properties.
The construction phase of the wind farm will be a massive mess. And the decommissioning is the destruction all over again. Everything that was trucked onto the mountain will need to be trucked out. It’s the repetition of the traffic nightmare through Hanging Rock and Nundle.
I note that the 9 turbines recommended for the removal (screenshot attached) in the vicinity of DAD_1 have not been removed. Why?