Winterbourne Wind Farm

See attached objection

Australia should be doing a lot more for the environment especially with renewable energy projects. This project supports the local community and will help through droughts and other hardship felt by locals. We should be starting as many project as possible to help with climate change.

I oppose the Winterbourne Wind Project, mainly due to lack of evidence demonstrating environmental benefit but demonstrating proposed environmental damage and irreversible impacts on natural ecosystems.
Submission attached.

I absolutely object to this disgusting Winterbourne Wind Electricity Generating Works plan & the false representation of this ugly, environmentally destructive, contaminating ruination of Australia's limited, irreplaceable uncontaminated arable land, vital water sources, precious landscapes & precious ecological habitat/creatures with no benefit at all to Australia but rather extremely detrimental consequences that will burden & curse future generations with toxic electronic garbage.
Already this dodgy project has had 3 shonky owners who couldn't care less about Australia in 30 months - giving no confidence at all for the future responsibilities of this monstrosity, its clean up & the contaminating impacts.

This is in no way a 'Farm' & NSW Planning & Energy Assessments is wrongly & disingenuously not abiding by its own correct 'Electricity Generating Works' terminology in order to make this ghastly plan sound more palatable to unaware Australians who don't know the truth about unreliable, intermittent, globally obscene, fake green, contaminating Wind Turbines.

I object to our public funds being scandalously wasted on non-beneficial, useless power generation & the increased energy costs this incurs for consumers from the repulsive, anti-Australian Wind/Solar industry.
The illogical, cult like worship of such an idiotic, inferior, unreliable, intermittent & insecure energy source is totally against our best interests!

Winterbourne Wind EG Works is designed to weaken Australia's power & prosperity & is SO harmful to Walcha, Uralla, NSW & Australia - doing nothing but feeding the subsidy sucking, fake green gravy train & supporting Chinese manufacturing.
There are a multitude of reasons why this is a brainless part of the imaginary power, fake-green, rip-off of Australia for an energy scheme/scam that will NEVER work.
It's an unconscionably cruel joke & obviously VERY stupid that anyone would ever believe that 119 weather dependant Wind Turbines - shedding toxic Bisphenol A (lethal to young children,) from their blades & filthy, hapless, toxic fire/smoke hazardous BESS - with their short, toxic waste creating life spans & energy intensive, toxic polluting life-cycles would ever do a thing to benefit the environment, change the climate or reduce emissions - let alone provide essential, reliable, efficient power.
They will NEVER be base-load power!
119 Wind Turbines are totally useless when there are wind droughts!
The dodgy, unsubstantiated claims that there will be no pollution are false & claims to decarbonise anything with this pile of intensive energy created junk completely fail to include the whole lifecycle of these turbines.

With global hostilities on our doorstep, it is glaringly obvious that Australia must be energy independent to protect our sovereign risk.
With our plentiful supplies of coal, gas & uranium resources - the envy of the world - our priority must be the health & welfare of Australians, not reliance on & support of slave labour product & our most hostile adversary - the Chinese Communist Party.

FOOD SECURITY + INDEPENDENT ENERGY SECURITY = NATIONAL SECURITY

Local NSW Councils have a duty not to host unethical slave labour reliant Wind/Solar/BESS product - including these Wind Turbines, BESS & any part thereof.
No Australian Government - including the NSW Gov - who has already been advised by the Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dr James Cochayne - should ever be reliant on the cruel torture of slave labour - including 6 yr old children forced to mine cobalt in the Congo.
There is NO clean cobalt!
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/mining/harvard-professor-explains-heartwrenching-source-of-electric-vehicle-iphone-batteries/news-story/db881f47c76db89581409c092a740c4c

*https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf

There is now a precedent set by Oxley Bridge Rd Solar Determination requiring proof that NO Slave Labour supply chain components be used in Solar/Wind/BESS construction.

Instead of lying & pretending that Wind Turbine monstrosities reduce harmful emissions & ignoring all the potent, man-made, most harmful greenhouse gas of all - SF6 - Sulphur Hexafluoride - 23,500 times more warming than CO2 - leaking from Wind Turbines & wrongly increasing exponentially thanks to all these poverty power Wind Turbine failures, the proven cleanest, safest source of power - Nuclear SMR's must be adopted instead - for a logical, secure, healthy & prosperous future.
No additional, ugly, agriculturally disruptive,environmentally destructive, unhealthy EMR impacting transmission lines would then be needed at all with an essential transition to Nuclear energy.

I totally object to these turbines shedding toxic Bisphenol A (lethal to young children) from their blades.
It is reprehensible that these toxic contaminating monstrosities have previously ever been approved anywhere in Australia when they are such a risk to our health & safety.
https://stopthesethings.com/2022/12/17/clean-energy-scourge-wind-turbine-blades-shedding-tonnes-of-toxic-microplastic/

‘Clean’ Energy Scourge: Wind Turbine Blades Shedding Tonnes of Toxic Microplastics
Sure, the millions of wind turbine blades headed for landfill will leave a toxic legacy for centuries to come, but these things create an even more immediate threat. Their 40-90m blades naturally e…
stopthesethings.com

To blight such a beautiful, iconic landscape, contaminate our land & vital water sources & irreversibly destroy such a vast area of ecological habitat - is a State Significant national disgrace - the antithesis of 'Caring for Country,' & would unjustly rob future generations of their essential intergenerational equity - burdening them with an astronomical pile of toxic waste - for no beneficial reason whatsoever.

The Liddell coal fired power station will be shut down this year and additional coal capacity will be retired in the medium term. NSW needs as many renewable energy projects to be fast tracked if it is to meet the energy demand of the state and its goal of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This is a large scale project that will help not only NSW's decarbonisation goals, but will provide significant benefits to the local community, by way of jobs and infrastructure. Supporting every opportunity, especially this project, which offers material reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, is critically important if we are to provide a safe and sustainable future for our children.

We object to the project as per attachment

I wish to submit an objection to the Winterbourne Wind Project based on the following points:
My wife and I relocated to Walcha for a quiet retirement in 2018. We moved from the Snowy Mountains and we were totally unaware of any future developments of this nature.
This project is going to devastate the town in terms of the infrastructure but more importantly it is going to disrupt the fabric of the town. We have noticed the division in the town created by this development that was not here before.
We built our home on the edge of town with views to the north and the east and we currently have uninterrupted spectacular views. Our visual aspect is going to be completed devastated by the Winterbourne Wind Farm and it is expected that we will see dozens of turbines and flashing lights.
We are also concerned about the noise that will come from the development. We understand that the noise levels have been underestimated in the EIS and with so many turbines in close proximity to the town, the residents of Walcha are going to be able to hear the noise of the turbines particularly on still winters days and nights.
This development has made my wife and I reconsider whether we want to remain in Walcha given the enormous impacts this development will have on the community and our enjoyment of the environs in our retirement. We are considering selling our home that we built in 2018 and will look to relocate to an area that is unaffected by wind and solar developments.
I have great concerns for the wild life of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park . The biodiversity is going to be greatly affected by this wind development. There is a $64 million offset for the development to destroy protected wildlife habitat that cannot ever be repaired. How can we allow this to happen? This development is in the wrong place and should not be approved.

I strongly object to this project around the surround township of Walcha. This project is just the start of many to come.
Our thriving small rural country town does not need this.
1. There should definitely not be any wind turbines within a radius of say 30 klms near to a built-up area. The people in our small town will not benefit from this project they will just have to suffer the noise, the infrasound, the visual look, the huge disruption on the roads in and out of our town and more than likely the value of our town properties will decline.
2. I strongly object the placing these turbines and the transmission lines any where near World heritage national parks, as is the case. The Winterbourne area has UNIQUE wilderness areas next to where these turbines will be. The beautiful wedge tail eagles I have seen in this area will no longer survive. They have only just starting to build up their numbers after many years of killing them to protect livestock. Many other birds and bats will also be in trouble. This generation and every generation after this one will need to be very protective of our wildlife.
3. The Great Dividing Range is a very beautiful area, we don’t need to destroy the visual appearance of this, we need to keep it as it is for our generations to come.
4. I have lived in Walcha all my 64 years of life. My present home is right on the edge of the township of Walcha, I have lived there for 33 years, enjoyed the koalas and the kangaroos every day in my yard from the nature reserve next to my home. I see at least weekly two wedge tail eagles soaring in the gully from my property. There is also so many micro bats in this area.
5. This project has caused so much upset in our small community with farmers and their neighbours not agreeing. I ask you why should property owners be paid huge sums of money to have these turbines, and their neighbours to suffer the ill effects and for their visual outlook to be totally ruined for their life time? This does not seem fair at all.

I wish to submit an objection to the Winterbourne Wind Project based on the following points.
A small rural community such as Walcha that is synonymous with innovative farmers, pristine pasture land and an idyllic geographical outlook should not have to carry the burden of such a huge project.
The potential damage to our road infrastructure will be enormous just to transport the hardware into the project leave alone the prospects of exhausting gravel and water supplies that are so badly needed in the day to day running of our local community.
The potential damage that will be created by land degradation and erosion whilst constructing roads to access the sights for these towers could be enormous as well as the risk to our bio-security with earth moving equipment importing unwanted weeds into our area.
The interruption to peoples lives with the visible aspect of towers and lighting combined with the noise that is created by these devices appears totally selfish along with the threat to our bird life and animal populations.
The potential to devalue land holders’ capital asset is of major concern as the decommissioning of these towers is still a very unknown prospect. From overseas experience quite often at the end of their working life they are left to deteriorate as the majority of the components aren’t recyclable.
From a social perspective it is sad to see the division that these projects have caused in the community. The focus on this is probably taking away the prospects of discussion that is required to explore other forms of energy and/or using areas that do not have such economic agricultural significance as Walcha does.
This area has depended on aerial agriculture for decades and these towers will impact this significantly along with access by emergency aircraft in the event of fires and accidents.
At 233 metres tall the land scape is going to be scarred and the road infrastructure will be chaos.

I fully support the Winterbourne Wind project. I feel Walcha being a small counrty town and a majority of the poulation in their later years is lacking in anything to bring new business and young families to the town. We get occasional tourism travel but there has been no growth in the 25 years I have been here. We have survived drought, bushfire time after time but that is the old time country folk refusing to give in.
I truly believe that new infustructure such as the Winterbourne Wind farm will bring workers, families and children to our town, businesses and schools. Also travellers to have a look at the new infrastructure. I have a small business in town and believe the only way our town will survive the next 20 years is a project on this scale. I have travelled throughout Europe and have never found the turbines offensive , actually the opposite. The footprint of the turbines is extremely small in relation to a same size KW solar farm. This is the way of the future and I fully believe the benefits of zero emmissions will benefit us far and wide. I have raised my young family in Walcha, and now all my grandchilden are in school/preschool here as well. I would hope that their future will be secure in a town that they love. A place they will always call home and never be in a rush to leave because of no work or opportunity. Thankyou.

I support the Winterbourne Wind Farm project for the many benefits it will bring to regional NSW, including:
1. The project will result in hundreds of millions of money spent in regional NSW, creating jobs, stimulating the local economy.
2. We need to replace fossil fuel plants in NSW with forecasts predicting up to 60% of the existing coal generation will be withdrawn/not available from the energy market in less than 10 years
3. Wind energy is cheaper than fossil fuel generation with the added benefit of no air, land and water pollution associated with burning coal
4. The climate is changing - the rise in floods, droughts, bushfires, rising temperatures is undeniable
5. We need to implement a transition from fossil fuel generation to slow climate change.

I support the Winterbourne Wind Farm, as it is a sufficiently large wind farm project to have meaningful impact on green energy production in NSW, and provide substantial benefits to our regions.
Major transition from expensive and polluting fossil fuels towards clean and sustainable generation, through wind farm projects such as these, is urgently needed in NSW to:
- meet emissions targets;
- address climate change concerns;
- replace ageing fossil fuel plants and coal energy generation;
- shift energy production to clean sources as the way of the future; and
- secure our future economies and communities.
In addition, this wind farm project will add meaningful jobs and benefits for the Walcha, Uralla, and surrounding regional communities.

I object to the Winterbourn Wind project, as I share the concerns of many people in my community.

I have alot of concerns about this project. The turbines will be visible from the family farm that I operate with my father and brother. I do not want to see junk left in Walcha’s skyline forever or until they fall down.
I am worried that I will hear the turbines. I am concerned with road congestion and the negative affects this will have on my agricultural business operation. Namely transporting of cattle to market in a timely manner, ability to visit Tamworth and Armidale for business and health services in a timely manner and transport of business inputs. I am concerned about the number of turbines proposed for the Walcha area and the negative effects this will have on land prices. People are not going to want to live and work in a busy industrial wind turbine zone. I refuse to call this farming because it is not farming. I am concerned about the removal of native vegetarian to put the turbines in. Landholders have invested heavily over past generations in planting native trees, and this project will see unprecedented destruction of native vegetation in this area.
In December 2022 we had a tornado through our property. The EIS does not address what would happen to a turbine if hit by a tornado. These weather events are now common throughout the New England. The best-known example is the Super Cell event that hit UNE in October 2021.

I do not want to see junk left in Walcha’s skyline for ever or until they fall down.

In my City Skyline game, I can put up small wind towers and make money and with the growth of the city I can unlock bigger turbines. But it shows the noise pollution under a smiley face. Some people are happy and some are angry, there is never a happy medium.

I object to the Winterbourn Wind project, as I share the concerns of many people in my community.

I have alot of concerns about this project. The turbines will be visible from the family farm that I operate with my father and brother. I do not want to see junk left in Walcha’s skyline forever or until they fall down.
I am worried that I will hear the turbines. I am concerned with road congestion and the negative affects this will have on my agricultural business operation. Namely transporting of cattle to market in a timely manner, ability to visit Tamworth and Armidale for business and health services in a timely manner and transport of business inputs. I am concerned about the number of turbines proposed for the Walcha area and the negative effects this will have on land prices. People are not going to want to live and work in a busy industrial wind turbine zone. I refuse to call this farming because it is not farming. I am concerned about the removal of native vegetarian to put the turbines in. Landholders have invested heavily over past generations in planting native trees, and this project will see unprecedented destruction of native vegetation in this area.
In December 2022 we had a tornado through our property. The EIS does not address what would happen to a turbine if hit by a tornado. These weather events are now common throughout the New England. The best-known example is the Super Cell event that hit UNE in October 2021.

I do not want to see junk left in Walcha’s skyline for ever or until they fall down.

It seems to me that there are a wide range of significant short comings with the proposed Winterbourne Wind Farm.
Why in this world would anybody think that this beautiful, unique & highly productive countryside is the right place for monstrous, industrial machines of the size not previously seen in this country. Together with the thousands of kilometres of high-tension wires to be constructed to connect it all together. These wind turbines come with a host of environmental & health consequences that are not able to be overcome. They are just passed off as acceptable collateral damage in order to pursue this mindless proposal. Things like the destruction of the environment both at the site of installation & all of the inputs of rare earth minerals & local limited resources of a proportion that is just staggering. Not to mention the unacceptable slaughter of all the birds & other wildlife these thing cause. What about Infrasound with the potential to inflict untold misery to those who suffer as a result. Pollution from the non-recyclable blades contaminating countryside water supplies & all the people in their vicinity. Electromagnetic radiation from the high tension wire network. What a disgrace. But of course, we know that the real driver of all this madness is Money. Big Money. Not common sense.
Then there is the daily impact & disruption to the community with all the vehicle movements, hundreds for extra vehicle movements every day. Who’s counting those & who’s going to fix all the damage to already failing local & major roads?
This developer has to my knowledge provided no information or engaged community consultation about this project. How is this a responsible way to go about things. I have no faith or trust in the credibility of this developer.
This proposal, if it goes ahead has the real potential to divide & destroy the very fabric of this close knit peaceful community spirit that exists. What cost/ value do you put on that?
I strongly believe there are much better & cheaper & viable base load power generation options available. Not this ridiculous waste for little benefit.

This project will be visual pollution, noise pollution, and create waste. It has not been proven to me that this project is green.

Having lived in Walcha for 16 months now, my husband and I moved from the Central Coast in September 2021. We moved here to get away from the busy overpopulated Coast. Our aim was to move to the country to experience a slower lifestyle and to appreciate the beautiful countryside and wildlife. We have been very blessed to do just that and have lived on two different properties where we have no neighbours, and the views are breathtaking. We have both been employed since we arrived.
We started to hear about the proposed windfarms by word of mouth and were astounded to think that the beautiful landscape we have come to love would be destroyed by sky scrapper size industrial machines. WHY!! Especially being on the edge of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park of which is part of the Heritage listed Gondwana Rainforest. Aren’t we supposed to protect that? So, we were totally against this and started to investigate more. In doing so we were made aware firstly of the size of the wind turbines 119 turbines 230m high and that these are the first to be constructed of this size in Australia. These turbines will be transported here by trucks apparently 288 trucks per day during the 11 months of peak construction during the 3 year construction period. Our roads a simply not made for these vehicle weights. Also leading to extensive road user delays and stoppages. Also, the construction of access roads will require gravel and water resources. Where will this come from? Especially when Walcha has just come out of the worst drought in living memory.
I truly do not understand why the powers that be are allowing the use of fossil fuels to make these monstrosities when in 25 years these need to be pulled down and replaced, where do they go?
The impact on the wildlife, bird life and farm life would be enormous. We have Wedge tailed Eagles, Koalas and Bats. That loss of habitat and bird strike would decimate the wildlife corridors of the National Park.
Also, the negative effect of high-tension wires with their electromagnetic radiation will cause serious consequences with livestock and people.
Walcha is a tourist destination. People come here to see the beauty of the countryside not these ugly monoliths.
To my knowledge the developer has not given any information or engaged consultation whatsoever to the community of Walcha of the details of this horrendous project.
The town of Walcha has generational heritage and if this proposal goes ahead, it could cause division that no amount of money could mend.
Please do not let this travesty take place!!

I object to this project because I believe this is an inefficient way of producing electricity. The wind turbines will be like the NBN, by the time they are built they will be out dated.

I am extremely concerned about the negative impact this project will have on the flora and fauna in the area much of which is endangered and can not be replaced. I am also concerned about the noise and pollution the project will create and the damage to the landscape caused by erosion, potential invasive species introduction and habitat destruction. I believe that this project is not environmentally friendly or sustainable in the short or long term. The risks to our waterways, flora and fauna are to great, other less invasive measures to create a sustainable power supply must be used. This project goes against my values and I believe has the potential to destroy a species rich community with little if any benefits to human civilisation long term.

I support the Winterbourne Wind Farm.
This project would bring much needed clean energy to the NSW energy grid and responds to the transition from fossil fuel generation to slow climate change.
It would contribute to the NSW government goal to have 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The wind farm will be a source of reliable renewable energy.
The project will have capacity of circa 700 MW, amongst the largest wind farms in Australia and would generate around 2,100,000 MWh per annum.
The project would create approximately 400 construction jobs and 16 permanent operational jobs and significantly contribute to a Community Benefit Fund for the Walcha and Uralla communities.
Additionally, the project has been designed to minimise any potential negative impacts on the local environment.
Overall, the Winterbourne Wind Farm represents a vital step forward for the local community, NSW and the nation.
The project should be approved with appropriate conditions to mitigate identified construction and operational issues.