Jupiter Wind Farm

Objections: ugly visual amenity in a populous rural residential area; environmental impacts including construction sites, concrete plant, sub.station, impact on abundant wildlife in this area, electromagnetic radiation, impact on Reedy Creek waterway, road risks and hazards for school buses on kings highway and Tarago roads, increased traffic on one of the highest density traffic highways in NSW, construction noise, industrial wind turbine noise, devaluing property, risk of fire hazard in native bushland, concern about the greed in construction of the number, height and size of the industrial wind turbines, already too many constructed and proposed industrial wind turbines in this area of nsw

My property is located on lilyvale road where I enjoy 650 acres of land with my family.
We are in the process of building a house and this is now going to be overlooking more turbines then I ever imagined. This was my retirement plan and after my rejection to EPYC where they offered me a ridiculous sum due to my visual impact (my entire 180 degree view is now covered in turbines) I am unsure as to my retirement future.
I cannot tell you how stressful this situation is and with the future uncertain, I hope a reasonable amount of common sense into the decision is considered.

My property is located on lilyvale road where I enjoy 650 acres of land with my family.
We are in the process of building a house and this is now going to be overlooking more turbines then I ever imagined. This was my retirement plan and after my rejection to EPYC where they offered me a ridiculous sum due to my visual impact (my entire 180 degree view is now covered in turbines) I am unsure as to my retirement future.
I cannot tell you how stressful this situation is and with the future uncertain, I hope a reasonable amount of common sense into the decision is considered.

The turbines are in full view from our house we are starting to build.
This is my parents retirement plan and now it's ruined. Not only has it dropped the value of my parents property but the actual issues around site and sound are very concerning. Please reconsider

My parents plan to retire at our property and the view from the house is ruined. We have worked hard to buy a family property for future generations to enjoy and we are devastated that our primary view will be the wind farms.

I OPPOSE the Jupiter Wind Farm being built near our tranquil rural-residential area because we bought our farm as an investment,
NOT to have the price of it de-valued due to industrial wind towers of up to 173m !!!! in the area!

I certainly wouldn't be buying in an area with wind turbines.

I OPPOSE the Jupiter Wind Farm being built near our tranquil rural-residential area.

I OPPOSE the Jupiter Wind Farm being built near our
R U R A L-R E S I D E N T I A L properties
because the wind turbines would be a HAZARD to fire fighting aircraft.

On the 12/12/2016 a fire fighting DC10 aircraft/air tanker the "Southern Belle" dropped fire retardant on a fire at
R U R A L-R E S I D E N T I A L properties on the Lower Boro Road, not far from proposed turbines.
If there were 173metre !! wind turbines in the area, the aircraft would not have been able to manoeuvre around them to access the properties affected.
As at today (13/12/2016), 492 hectares has been burnt, if the aircraft had not been able to make the fire retardant drops the area would be a lot larger and
more R U R A L-R E S I D E N T I A L properties burnt!!
I OPPOSE the Jupiter Wind Farm being built near our
R U R A L-R E S I D E N T I A L properties

I am opposed to the Jupiter wind farm due to the fact that there will be two turbines within 2 km of my rural residential residence. I am in fear that this will impact on property prices as I know i myself would certainly not have bought the property 2 yeArs ago if I had of known this project was being proposed. Due to lack of consultation from EPYC I was unaware.
Since then EPYC have offered us 3000.00 annually for the next 25 years, this will not even come close to the value of our property. We have declined and refuse to make any business deals with them. They are u trustworthy.

I don't think the surrounding property owners and residents should have to accept such a company to come in and install these large turbines.

They devalue people's homes/properties and cause grief to the people and their families who have to live near them.

I bet the company and the owners of these companies do not have them near their homes, instead they have picturesque mountain views or ocean views.

Take the turbines out to sea like other countries!!!

I am all for the wind turbines as this is sustainable for the community, however I do not feel it is necessary or essential to have this near residential dwellings. If there can be a location more suitable that is further away from property dwellings this would be a more practical option.

- My partner and I purchased a property in August 2015 unknowingly that there was a potential wind farm, we would not have gone ahead with this sale if we knew that there was a wind farm being built.

- We bought a property so we could enjoy the country views and not be built around with city buildings and high rise structures. The wind farm being built will be within a 2 kilometres radius from our home and we don't want this as our view from our home when we signed up for gorgeous hills and country views.

- We are looking at starting a family and what better place to have children than on a farm in the country. While the wind farm is being built, this will impact the local school bus routes and kids that catch the buses from home to school and return.

- There was a local bushfire at Lower Boro 12/12/2016 and if the turbines are near a fire hazard area, how are the helicopters and very large air tanker's going to water bomb between the turbines?

- I am fully against the Jupiter Wind Farm being built near my property and potential new dwellings.

- I would appreciate if they were built not in a residential rural area but maybe in the ocean or dessert where it won't be near residents that do not wish to live near them.

- I don't agree that residents being so close to them have the view of the turbines from their properties. Putting up a screen (such as scrubs or trees) is not a viable blockage as the trees wont grow as high as the turbines.

- My partner and I are holding off building our dream home on our property because of the wind farm and this is having huge impacts on our personal relationship because we are so unsure about the future of our farm.

- I don't know many people who are keen to live near and look at a wind farm from their homes

- I know that trying to sell a property near the wind farm will be devalued because of the wind farm

I object to the proposed windfarm as the EIS makes false claiming about the bus route that travels along braidwood road. They claim there is no bus route going from lake bathurst beyound to braidwood however it is a known fact that the bus goes to tarago and beyond to braidwood town. The bus also travels along the kings highway from braidwood to bungendore. Epyc were given these facts by residents however have ignored these as they dont want to disclose these bus routes as they know the potential harm and disruption that the project will have on the children that attend.

I strongly OBJECT to the proposed Jupiter wind farm on the following grounds;

People living in Tarago already have to live with a recycling plant and rubbish coming in daily from the city. We also have to look at the existing wind farms in the area (albeit at a greater distance than the proposed wind farm). This is more than enough for the area.

I moved to Tarago for the quiet and for the views, and in doing so I gave up the advantages of living in a city (rubbish collection, fast internet, mains sewerage, mains water etc, etc). The proposed wind farm will make my sacrifices pointless as I will now have to endure these eyesores in my view and the noise they create when the wind is blowing in my direction. The government is trying to encourage people to move to more rural areas instead of clustering by the coast and in the cities, but by allowing another wind farm (and a HUGE one at that) in a rural residential area, no one will want to live in Tarago (and many will take note and not trust that the government won't ruin their piece of paradise if they move out of the cities).

The value of my property will fall significantly, which is also a strong cause for objection. Who is going to compensate me for the money I will lose if I ever have to sell my home? How will our community grow? I doubt many people will want to live in a village scarred by turbines through it.

The energy from this wind farm will not benefit the residents of Tarago, but yet we have to suffer the consequences of the turbines. Additionally, the site will bring little or no money into the area, as those employed to erect the turbines will be from out of the area, and the turbines themselves are made abroad!

Very little research has been done on the health effects on people of the sound these wind turbines emit. I would like to advise you now, I am putting you on notice that if this wind farm goes ahead and my health suffers, I will be seeking legal advice (remember what happened with asbestos a few years ago that was apparently 'harmless', until it wasn't...the result was a huge payout for the victims).

I am also extremely concerned that the EPYC will not exist in 15-20 years time to ensure the turbines are removed once decommissioned. I think it is likely those people who will be collecting rent for having turbines on their property, will be left with the responsibility of taking them down as they will fall into disrepair and become dangerous over time, after use. I am worried those people will not have the money to do this (I believe it currently can cost up to $80,000 per turbine at todays prices, so who knows in 15-20 years time), and as such will result in law suits against them in the future, which will split the village again, as the proposal is currently splitting the village between the 'hosts' and everyone else.

And finally, I am worried that local people's feelings on this are being ignored - by EPYC (NO ONE has been to speak to me about it, despite the proposed turbines effecting my view), and the government is more interested in hitting 'clean' energy quotas than caring about it's non city dwelling citizens. The government could tell these wind farm prosers to build the turbines at sea (as they do now in the UK). That way they would hit their clean energy targets without upsetting law abiding, tax paying, voters. The trouble is, putting them out at sea is probably more expensive than throwing them through a rural community, and most companies are simply interested in making a quick dollar rather than doing the right thing.

No wind farm proposal has ever been declined in Australia as far as I know (which is no doubt one of the reasons foreign companies are heading here to take advantage of Australian land, and Australian people). Leave the residents of Tarago alone - let us live in peace. Take the wind farm off the table for our area.

Jupiter wind farm Submission-Jane Penny
My name is Jane Penny and I live on Boro Road in the centre of the proposed Jupiter Wind Farm Project area.
The effect of the Jupiter proposal has already been terrible for us and our neighbours. Because of Jupiter we have all endured uncertainty for years. People who were building homes for their families are now unsure about whether to continue to invest their hard earned savings or to sell up and get out while they can. I hear that banks have been cagey about lending money for homes in the area and no one wants to buy land while the wind farm might be built. The local population is furious and rightly so.
This area is full of families who want to live a quiet rural life. There are a few larger farms but mainly small subdivisions. The whole economy of the local area is already geared to this. I think if Jupiter is constructed any short term contribution that it may make to the community will be completely overshadowed by the impact of people leaving the area, (if they can afford to do so) and the cessation of new subdivision home building.
Like most of our neighbours my partner and I are working people who have invested all our money and time into our home for well over a decade. We have a mortgage on our home and no other property or capital. We are both nearing the end of our working lives. The sale of our home was central to retirement plans and its sale was also our emergency plan for unexpected illness or disability as we get older. This is the same for many working Australians.
The proposed turbines are very close to our home and if we have to leave it is likely that no one else will give us a fair price for our home. We may end up still carrying a mortgage for a home we can't use or sell. Any hope of financial security or even retirement in our later years will be effectively sabotaged.
Job creation from wind farms is short term; Jupiter might create a few local jobs for a year or two, when it is being built, but very few long term jobs after that. Most of the long term positions associated with it will be for specifically skilled people living away from the wind farm, probably in Sydney. By contrast, an ongoing local subdivision and home building industry is one that supports many local tradesmen, and local businesses catering to the families for decades. Continuing growth in these types of long term jobs is dependent on Jupiter NOT being built
EPYC has been a very untrustworthy organisation to deal with. Their information is misleading and unreliable and their manner is single minded, verging on bullying. They seem able to shut their ears to any opinion and just try to force their project on the local area. Frankly, most locals have come to despise them and few will speak with them at all these days.
If they are this bad during the application process just imagine how arrogant they would become if they were actually granted the authority to run the wind farm! There would be no stopping them.
I have been to all the CCC meetings and it seems clear that only one of the people attending from EPYC has any say in what happens. The other two just sit there in silence, if it wasn't so upsetting it would be funny.
Despite being "consultation representatives" two seem completely committed to saying nothing at all. I believe that one of the three has not uttered a single syllable during all the meetings! What is the use of appointing people as "Representatives" for community consultation when they don't speak.... not a single word!
During CCC meetings those EPYC staff who possess the power of speech have been asked to explain the industry experience of their staff. The response is simple; they just refuse to answer, saying it's irrelevant. Well it's not irrelevant to us!
The manner of the EPYC representatives at CCC meetings has been generally disrespectful and pugnacious. I am offended by this on behalf of my community representatives who put aside their time to prepare for and attend these meetings, only to be patronised and made the subject of bizarre accusations. The written questions distributed by EPYC at a recent CCC meeting was unbelievable. Is this how EPYC encourage open communication? It looks more like preparation for some form of legal intimidation against local community reps.
EPYC make sweeping claims about their comprehensive expertise on their website and in their newsletters but when called upon to back it up with details, they simply refuse. Surely the community has a right to know the experience of the people who propose a project like this. Even for a job interview you have to supply a resume with job history and qualifications, you can't just refuse to name your previous employers and roles (claiming that it is irrelevant) and then expect that you be given the job.
I can only imagine that they don't have the expertise they claim and are trying to mislead people, or they would be happy to detail it. I think they are probably leading everyone astray and that they may well have no experience in running a wind farm at all. The problem is that, seeing as they refuse to discuss it, no one knows.
EPYCs insistence that wind farms do not affect property value is crazy. I don't care what studies they dredge up. People should ask themselves this simple question:
Would you buy a home for your family amongst 80 odd- 173 meter tall wind turbines?
Would you pay the same for a rural property, once it was incorporated in amongst them, as you would have before the wind farm was built?
I can't see how the wind farm development process protects local residents at all. If a wind farm proponent can endlessly re apply for approval, even when there is solid local opposition. What security is there in this arrangement for a local land owner?
If all else fails a lot of people think EPYC will head off to court to try to force their project through anyway. They just have absolutely no concern for the local community at all and they don't even seem to pretend anymore. To be honest, I don't think they have a lot of concern for the Department of Planning either.
Jupiter's application is a chance for the department and PAC to finally reject this blatantly miss-sited wind power proposal once and for all, and show people in NSW that they are doing their job properly, and not just rubber stamping approvals for every wind farm that applies.
The EIS is too long for me to read completely but I have had a look at the visual impact assessment document because I wanted to get an idea of what we could expect to see if Jupiter is approved.
There is a photo image that looks as if a small child has produced it. (Page 1690 photo 5 looking east from Goulburn road) the turbines appear to be hand drawn outlines which are transparent. Some tower bases even have trees and pasture clearly showing through. They are not white or coloured in any way. The effect is that the turbine is the same colour as the background
In photo 10 on page 1700. In this image the turbines have no supporting towers at all; they are just disembodied rotors hanging in the sky. Half the turbine structure is completely missing and not available to make a contribution to the impact of the image.
Then there is photo 11 on page 1702 (looking east from elevated panoramic view, Rose view road) where the artist has taken the liberty of replacing the usually stark white turbine towers with a few black dots.
As someone who drives past turbines daily I can assure the department that these images do not look like real wind turbines at all.
I will not go through them all in this letter, but many other images in the EIS have similar flaws. It seems very shoddy work and does not inspire any confidence in EPYC. Our local shire council required more accuracy for our simple house plans and septic layout than these images provide!
The intention of these omissions is obviously to make the turbines appear less prominent, which is utterly deceptive and unacceptable.
Mitigation planting
There simply is no effective way to mitigate a 173 meter tall spinning turbine only 1000m away from my door. EPYC has stated in the EIS that plant screening would be used to mitigate the view of the turbines. This is a ridiculous solution to an unsolvable problem.
I don't want trees near my home. We work hard to keep our home clear for a good solar aspect and fire safe. In any case the trees would have to be huge, as the turbines are only 1000m away. The plant screening would take decades to screen the turbines from my view. If EPYC intend to use mature trees they have not provided any information on who would plant, water and maintain the trees. Where would the water come from to keep a forest alive? What would happen if the trees died? Would EPYC provide more trees?
I would not want flammable trees or other bush to be used as a screening close to my home as this would increase fire danger to my home. I already have a condition in my own building approvals to have a cleared area 20 metres around my home, EPYC simply has not provided enough options for me to feel they are taking mitigation measures seriously.
By way of highlighting the importance of fire preparedness I must tell the reader that, as I am writing this submission, there is a bush fire being fought on Boro Road right now, with helicopters and a DC-10 plane (11/12/16). Fire is a regular occurrence in the area and needs to be taken seriously, fires kill people.
Boro Road is a "no through road", if a fire comes from the north (most likely) then residents cannot escape but must shelter in their homes and rely on their own measures and aircraft support to survive. EPYCs EIS mitigation suggestions are turbine mitigation measures, not fire mitigation measures. It may seem like stating the flaming obvious but, any measures which increase the chances of our home going up during a bushfire (with us in it) are obviously unacceptable, and I am alarmed that it should require submissions from me to point this out.
It seems to me that EPYCs whole emphasis on house windows is misguided. Sure, in cities people stay inside their homes more, but I spend most of my time outside in the orchard and gardens, or at the poultry enclosure, I am I am hardly ever in the house if it's not raining. It is whole point to living in the country.
I am very worried about the health impact of being so close to such big turbines. I have heard that this is being investigated by the NHMRC. I don't think any more Wind farms should be approved until this is finished. I have met local people who already live near wind farms and who have a great deal of trouble sleeping because of the noise at night. This has really affected their health and general wellbeing. What about young children and babies, what will be the effect on them? What if the research finds out that there is an impact? Who is responsible then?
The project has already been rejected once for good reasons. The department imposed harsh restrictions at Yass wind farm where there are far fewer homes. I understand that there are about three times as many people around Jupiter as would have been affected at Yass. The design of Jupiter means that every turbine is too close to someone's home, so the only option is to outright reject the application...
My recommendation is to refuse Jupiter wind farm, Tarago area is the wrong location for an industrial development there are simply too many homes here.

Jane Penny
Boro NSW

These instrusive looking things will be in our view - devalue our property - that I have worked all my life to achieve - plus the numerous health reasons that occur and that the area where they are planned will not benefit at all by this overseas investor overtaking our country.

My family moved to Mt Fairy 4 years ago to enjoy the tranquility and awesome views from our block on Roseview Rd Mt Fairy. We estimate that our frontal view will include 42 wind turbines higher than the Sydney harbour Bridge and Telstra Tower. Our visual amenity can not be improved despite the EIS saying that our 'high' impact can be mitigated to 'moderate/high' through tree mitigation. Unless we want to live shrouded by trees on our doorstep, close enough to cause building damage if they fall, they can not mitigate our visual amenity, we live in an elevated position and trees do not grow that high anywhere but outside our immediate doorstep. We were offered 'benefit sharing' of a dismal amount which when investigated meens our rights would be removed. It is disturbing that an unregulated industry has been supported by our elected governments with no protections for those negatively impacted.This whole process has caused my husband and I to experience extreme stress which has negatively impacted our physical and mental health.

I would like to state that the impact vs benefits to the broader community far out way any negative elements discussed for this proposal and I fully support wind farms and in particular this wind farm as the renewable energy and benefit to our economy and environment are very significant.

I fully support the use of wind farms as a renewable source of energy and support the location of this proposal which supports the environment will very little impact.

I wish to make a submission in objection to the proposed wind turbine project on visual impact grounds, noise concerns and misleading information supplied in the documents provided for exhibition. There are several points that directly mislead the public. Some of these points are the information that relates to no school bus route and bus stops on braidwood and Goulburn roads. The renders that have been provided to particular properties affected are grossly misleading for information on the visual impact. I am a professsional photographer and run a photography company. I can state for the fact that these renders are by no means nearly accurate. I also wish to request a representative of the government to visit my property so they can see personally what impact this project will have on our views and quality of life. We will have approximately 14 turbines from 1km out to 3km and I wish for the government to personally view and assess an accurate representation of the visual impact we will face. I will be preparing this personally.

to close to homes and community