This project should not be allowed to proceed. The health of residents in the surrounding areas and as far as Canberra, Goulburn and even to Sydney will be effected by this incinerator. The locals drink tank water that will be contaminated by the chemical fallout from Veolia's plant, are they going to install purification filter and everyone's water supply. The air that we breathe, the produce from our farmers the cattle sheep chicken and the list goes on will be unsafe for human consumption.These so called levels on a paper graph would you honestly believe them. Veolia's EIS is based on their UK plant, maybe the residents opinions should be use in the governments decision to say NO TO THE TARAGO INCINERATOR. If it's not safe for Sydney it's not safe for Tarago or anywhere. Veolia say its safe, but in the event if something does goes wrong it's too late, Tarago and the further communities will be contaminated. We are asked to trust Veolia, they have been fined many times over the years for not following the guidelines and safety standards. You must say NO TO THE TARAGO INCINERATOR

Hello, my name is Aleesha. I live in Goulburn, NSW. I STRONGLY object to Veolias plan to build an incinerator in Tarago.

Burning 9.5 million tonnes of Sydney's garbage is NOT OKAY. The NSW Government literally says these incinerators ARE NOT safe for Sydney. They ARE NOT safe for anyone.

This incinerator will pollute the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for at least 25 years. The air will carry this pollution for kilometres.

It is endangering our farms, environment, water, and health. If this incinerator is built our farms will be impacted for at least 25 years. We will not be able to produce the vital crops and food the civilians need. It will lead to food shortages and civilians lacking the important nutrients we need to survive and thrive.

The pollution will also impact our health because this incinerator will create 2.5 million tonnes of contaminated ash. This ash is extremely unsafe and harmful if it enters our system. By building this deadly incinerator you will not only be harming us but generations to come.

Our waters will also be affected by this deadly incinerator. The contaminated ash can easily enter our dams, water catchments and water storage. This will contaminate our fresh drinking water. This water will then be unsafe to drink. It will need to undergo an extremely expensive filtering process, therefore negatively  effecting our economy.

Our beautiful environment is also at stake. The pollution will kill many plants, and habitats for wildlife, that could lead to their extinction. Our environment will no longer be beautiful and historical, leading to less tourism. Less tourism will impact many businesses, and the overall economy in NSW.

This incinerator is NOT a good idea, there are WAY more reasons why it SHOULD NOT  be built compared to why it should. Do you really want to put an unsafe garbage burner right on Goulburn's doorstep? Do you really want to put NSW's water, air, health, farms and environment at risk? For what, burning Sydney's garbage?

You should not ever build this incinerator anywhere. It is UNSAFE! You can always find another way to get rid of the garbage. You DO NOT need to endanger the population and environment. The negative effects will be huge! Please I am begging you DO NOT build this deadly incinerator!

I am a resident of Tarago. I am disgusted and dismayed that Veolia and the New South Wales Government have colluded to push a toxic waste incinerator on the community of Tarago and the surrounding population. The New South Wales Government last year banned waste incinerators from Sydney because of the risk to human health, as such why dont the people in the communities around Tarago bear the same risk if an incinerator is built next door?
Veolia is a bad neighbour in Tarago and has been since their Woodlawn bioreactor was built almost 20 years ago. The stench that has plagued the community for up to 50kms from their facility is disgusting, and according to Veolias licence every time any one in the community smells the stench from the bioreactor it is a breach of Veolia's licence. In the financial year 21/22 there were over 300 complaints about odour, which is no doubt the tip of the iceberg but people have given up making complaints because the NSW governments seems unwilling to hold Veolia to their licence conditions. The EPA themselves have told the community that they cannot do anything to Veolia because Veolia has too much money and will fight any penalties in court.
Last year Veolia was fined by the EPA for their leaking garbage trucks. Only last months Veolia was served a Prevention notice by the EPA for the contamination of Ground water. This contamination has apparently been ongoing for over 6 years. However noone thought to tell the community. In August this year Veolai was breached by the Planning Department for their leaking dams. When will it end!!!! Veolia has proven time and again that they will pay no attention to their licence conditions, not for stinky leaking bioreactor and certainly not for toxic incinerator once it is approved. They will not be beholden to any limits placed on them by the government. And once it is built why would they. There seems to be no real punishment when they misbehave.
And yet, here we are and the NSW Government thinks its appropriate to give a serial polluter a licence for a toxic waste incinerator. For all the promises that Veolia makes, the local community knows that they arent worth the paper they are written on. Veolia has lied and lied and lied again. Apparently thats what money allows you to do.
How can the NSW government seriously consider giving a company with such an appalling record a licence for a "hazardous waste" dump. Veolia has shown contempt for the rules of their current licence and will no doubt continue that practice in future. Past behaviour is the best indicator of future behaviour.
The local community of Tarago is solely reliant on tank water. What happens to the community when Veolia toxic waste incinerator is found to have contaminated the household water of every single house in the region. Who will be liable for that? Will the NSW Government be paying to get reticulated water to every household within a 100km radius from the waste incinerator? Will local Councils be footing that bill? Veolia should be made to pay a security deposit to the NSW government that is used to fix the issues they cause, not at the end of the life of the incinerator, but as soon as the breaches are found. This of course would mean that appropriate testing would have to be done. I note in the EIS that no real testing is being proposed by Veolia. The cumulative contamination from an incinerator needs to be monitored. This includes monitoring water tanks, Lake George, Lake Bathurst, local populations, local stock, dams etc. No base line testing appears to have ben done. Why not?
Three years ago the NSW Government finally came clean and told the local community that there was lead contamination through the centre of Tarago, including at the local primary school. The children at Tarago primary school could not drink the water at the school for over two years. The NSW Government took responsibility for the clean up of lead in Tarago in early 2020. Yet three years later the lead is still there, the NSW government actually neglected the site to the point that the EPA had to Breach the Department of Transport for the lack of maintenance. The cumulative impact of all of this contamination is degusting. Veolia has no social licence to build a toxic waste incinerator in Tarago. The town has endured and continues to endure too much.
The children of Tarago should not have to be living with a toxic incinerator on their doorstep. They should be able to plan their futures in Tarago without the fear of how the contamination from a toxic waste incinerator will effect their health long term, or the health of their future children. This is intergeneration warfare at its worst.
Europe has started to realise the error of its incinerator ways and many countries have stopped allowing this toxic monstrocities to be built. Yet Australia has been blinded by the spin doctors of companies such as Veolia who realise they are no longer wanted in Europe. Australian government's are being sold are dud. How embarrassing.
Tatrago has no permanent professional fire station, and yet Veolia wants to build a toxic waste incinerator on a site that is classified as bushfire prone. Five years ago one of the local wind farms started a fire that almost burnt out town down. Surely the NSW government is smart enough to see the risk that an an cinerator would pose in this area. The closest fire station is 40 minutes drive away. Whole communities can be burnt to the ground in that time, as was witnessed in the fire of 2019/2020. The risk is just too high. All Veolia cares about is the money and all the NSW Government cares about is disappearing Sydney's waste. Once our town is burnt or contaminated there is not coming back. Or is that what you want?
Tarago already takes up to 40 percent of Sydney's garbage. Surely Sydney should be looking at ways to deal with their own garbage shame. Whilst Sydney can keep sending it here and pretending that it just magically disappears then the real issue of plastics and recycling will not be dealt with. Burning garbage does not trun it into nothing. All of the fly ash, bottom ash and toxic plume will contaminate the community. Burning garbage is not part of the circular economy unless you dont actually understand how a circle works. It actively takes material out of the circular economy. It is also not recycling. It is burning fossil fuel in another form. This is not green energy.
At the South London Incinerator there have been 40 breaches of the air emission standards over 42 months. This is a modern incinerator. Is this what will happen in with Veolias incinerator in Tarago? How will we know when this has happened as there seems to be no real time monitoring proposed. Ans when it does happen with Veolia and the NSW Government test everybodys water tanks after each breach to check that our water has not been contaminated. Or will the local community only find out when there are significant cancer clusters and the children become increasingly sick?
There are at least 13 rare/threatened species in Tarago including a koala population next door to the incinerator site. If you dont care about the people that live in Tarago what about these threatened species? How has Veolia tried to steer away from from even acknowledging that these pollutions even exist let alone what it plans to do to protect them from the toxic outputs from their incinerator.
I note that despite multiple formal requests for information the NSW Government refuses to tell the community how it came to be that Tarago was one of only four sites in NSW that could host an incinerator. This in itself seems to verge on corruption and collusion with a foreign multinational company. If incinerators are safe and not a risk to human health then why cant they be built everywhere?
Is its not safe enough for Sydney then its not safe anywhere. Just because there are less of us does not make our lives worth less. You must not allow Veolia to build a toxic waste incinerator in Tarago.

Burning toxic waste to produce alleged clean energy is impossible even with technology we have today, you can not burn anything clean and that's a known fact not in dispute here.
We live approximately eighty kilometers from the proposed plant but we know the exhaust gasses produced by burning waste will affect us at Marulan.
We moved to a country town to be away form all the Hussle bustle of big cities and to retire in a relatively clean air environment but we keep hearing about all the industry that wants to spoil our way of life. We've had to fight off incinerators even closer to us in the last couple of years and it seems crazy to us as we have local council here that is unanimously opposed to waste to energy incinerators yet our state government wont listen to them or us locals and just ban the dirty things.
These dirty plants are banned in the ACT, and this proposed incinerator is on the boarder to the ACT, they are being moth balled in the EU as they are "dinosaur technology" yet these people still propose to let us breath the air that will be poisoned with exhaust waste from burning unrecyclable waste, really?? A parent company that would not be allowed to build a new plant in France as the incinerators are now being moth balled. Not to mention the water and food chain ramifications from the exhaust blooms, a food area that feeds all Australians!
ACT Government bans them but NSW Government wants to allow them so ACT residents mean more to the ACT Government then NSW residents mean to NSW Government, please Dear minister surely good sense must prevail here if we are going to put the health and well being of our fellow humans after big multi-national companies and money, well what we have in our lives is over.
We here at Marulan have lived a good life and now in our last quarter of it but its the young ones we think about, our Grand niece starts school next year and she is the one we are very concerned about, we don't want our young ones breathing in all this toxic fumes that nobody can guarantee wont hove massive long term heath effects.
The company running the now waste reactor has a poor record already of pretty much invading the locals lives each day with excessive smells, many transport movements and the like, so confidence is low thinking these people will adhere to any restrictions put on them things can only get worse, tiny fines to multi national companies has never been a deterrent and never will be.
We ask you Dear minister to come and visit Tarago, and our Southern Tablelands, before any decision is made, you will see for your self why we are so passionate about this area and why our own Mayor and former General Manager used the term, "PRISTINE AREA"
Why should we not fight to keep our area "PRISTINE" for our future generations?
Please think about your fellow humans and future generations not big multi national companies that only think of profit and shareholders
We ask you not only to do the right thing and decline this proposed dirty incinerator but we ask you to do the Australian thing and think of us all

Thank you

I live in Currawang, NSW, 13km north-west of the site of the proposed incinerator. I strongly object to Veolia’s proposed incinerator being built near Tarago. I fear that Veolia’s toxic industrial waste incinerator will have an extremely negative impact on both the physical and mental health of people living in Tarago and the surrounding areas, including myself and my family. In addition to filling our lungs with toxins, many of us will also ingest these toxins in the drinking water we collect from our roofs that the food we grow in our gardens and on our farms. Our community is already under a great deal of stress after five years of drought, fire and flooding, with many people at breaking point, including myself. I live only 13 km north-west of the proposed site and I often smell the stench from Veolia’s existing operations, so I know that the toxic emissions from the proposed incinerator will enter my environment, my body and the bodies of my growing children. If toxic waste incinerators are too dangerous for the people of Sydney then they are also too dangerous for the people of Tarago and surrounds.

My name is Vivian Harris and I live in Wayo which is just out of Goulburn. I strongly object to Veolia’s proposed incinerator being built in Tarago.

I believe that Veolia’s toxic industrial waste incinerator will affect not only my family that lives in Tarago but also my family in Goulburn which includes my grandchildren.

There are many reasons for my concerns and they are not just about the incinerator but about the waste that is being sent to Tarago already and affecting the groundwater and quality of life for the residents of Tarago.
My profession is in the early childhood field and so I am aware of the importance of the first five years of life and where a child grows up. My family has chosen the Goulburn area to live for the quality of life and the clean air that we appreciate. My husband is the third generation of his family to live in this area and I have lived here for 40 years. I lived in a capital city in my growing years and then moved to a regional city before moving to Goulburn.
I do not understand why in a rural area we are the ones that will suffer by the burning of Sydney’s rubbish. Why when Sydney says no to burning of the rubbish in Sydney do we have to suffer with air pollution? Are we not important as there are less of us? Is there a view that our air quality is not important as we are in a rural area? My family is not complete as yet so this would affect my future grandchildren as well and if it goes ahead for their whole life. It would not only affect their physical health but their mental health as well. As a couple of my grandchildren are teenagers they will be thinking why the government would make a decision that affects their health.
If the NSW Government acknowledges that waste incinerators impact the health of those in the surrounding areas then why would they let it go ahead? The Federal Government in Canberra would be affected as well as they are in the area that the air pollution would be, including all the other towns in the Southern Tablelands. The NSW Government needs to show it is as concerned about the health and lifestyle of those who live in rural areas and not just for those who live in Sydney.
I strongly oppose the incinerator and hope that some sense in the matter might prevail.

Hi, I live in Goulburn with my husband, two small children and dog. I vehemently object to Veolia’s proposed incinerator being built in Tarago.
 
I believe that Veolia’s toxic industrial waste incinerator will be detrimental to the health of all those living in the surrounding areas. The risks of toxic pollution to my family, friends and neighbours is unacceptable. There is also the risk to local wildlife and food contamination concerns. There are many farms in the region and risk of contamination to the food chain would impact not only local farmers but the whole country. In the last few years this reigning has had an influx of growth and more people move out of city centres, looking for a less crowded and polluted place to call home. This plant would be a blow to all those in the religion, impacting population movement and growth as people who have the means to move do and those who do not suffer the associated health risks of staying in range of this plant.

At this point in history we know better, we know this kind of plant is bad for the environment and for the health of everyone. And when we know better, we can do better. If this plant goes ahead it would show that those in power not only don’t care to do better but also that they don’t consider the health and safety of the future generations important.

Hi, my name is Jennifer and I live in Murrumbateman but will be shortly be moving to Yass. I strongly object to Veolia’s proposed incinerator being built in Tarago.
I strongly believe that Veolia’s toxic industrial waste incinerator will harm our beautiful regions wine industry.
Here are a few reasons not to have the incinerator.
• Pollution from the proposed incinerator will includes acid gases, toxic heavy metal particulates (mercury, lead cadmium) and persistent organic particulates (dioxins, furans, PCBs, PFAS). Particulate pollution can lead to decreased lung function, cardiac disease and death. In addition to polluting the air, dioxins and furans will accumulate in the surrounding environment over time in soil and water and are absorbed by plants, crops and animals. This will then damage the regions wine industry and will not be able to continue producing the same high quality, award winning wine.
• Veolia’s incinerator proposal will emit toxic air pollution 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 25 years, which will spread throughout the region from Canberra to Goulburn, Braidwood, Bungendore, Murrumbateman, Gunning, Marulan, Yass and more.
• Food contaminated by incinerator toxins can cause cancer, miscarriage, infant deaths, developmental delays, reproductive issues, heart disease and respiratory impairment.. Who then Would want to carry that risk when purchasing wine or other food sources from the region?

In conclusion, there are no benefits to have this facility and would greatly impact the wine and food industry negatively.

I object to the Woodlawn AERC proposal on the grounds that:
It will produce more greenhouse gas emissions than coal-fired generation;
There are unacceptable risks the emissions will pollute surrounding soil and rainwater collection tanks (most properties for miles around rely on rainwater and many residents grow vegetables);
Similar incinerator proposals have been blocked in the ACT and Sydney due to concerns over the risks to public health;
Burning waste is not an acceptable alternative to recycling of materials, and produces a worse environmental outcome than using landfill;
Woodlawn site has landfill capacity for many years to come.
Please don't put the health of current and future residents of a wide surrounding area be put at risk from this project.

I am a member of the public and I live in the Yass Valley Region. I strongly object to Veolia’s proposed incinerator being built in Tarago. I believe that Veolia’s toxic industrial waste incinerator will cause huge issues in the food security sector, and have an impact on the health of our environment that we cannot recover from.
The characterisation of waste incineration as renewable energy generation is misinformation and should not be fed to the public because it is a lie. It will not reduce greenhouse emissions or reliance on fossil fuels. Unlike wind and solar generated power, waste doesn’t come from infinite natural processes. It is sourced from finite resources – minerals, fossil fuels and forests that are cut down at an unsustainable rate. Plastic is a petroleum by-product. Burning it is the same as burning fossil fuel and produces similar emissions, the lack of transparency about this is corrupt. In 2019, academics from the Australian National University Medical School, the Public Health Association of Australia, and Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australia completed a systematic review of the health impacts of waste incineration, which was published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health in 20202 and referenced by the NSW Government Chief Scientist and Engineer in his report to the NSW Minister for Environment that same year. This report concluded that “there is insufficient evidence to conclude that any incinerator is safe” and in particular “contamination of food and ingestion of pollutants is a significant risk pathway for both nearby and distant residents”. This project will put people's lives, their families and their futures at risk. Food contaminated by incinerator toxins can cause cancer, miscarriage, infant deaths, developmental delays, reproductive issues, heart disease and respiratory impairment. You will be killing people if this project goes forward. Veolia’s incinerator proposal will emit toxic air pollution 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 25 years, which will spread throughout the region from Canberra to Goulburn, Braidwood, Bungendore, Murrumbateman, Gunning, Marulan, Yass and more. The consequences that we WILL see in a few years to come if this project goes ahead will be catastrophic, and the Australian public will hold you liable for this.