I would like to express my great dissatisfaction with Epuron and the contents of this Environmental Assessment.

There are lot of clashes in the detail of the statistics in different reports, a lot of the planning work that is not completed and a lot of non-detail in "completed" assessments.

Epuron have been uncommunicative and uninformative, The so-called "experts and professional" representatives who have hosted the three? open days held in Rye Park ( that I am aware of) were unable to answer any of our questions and at one point were were passed onto their "appropriate specialist" who still could not answer our questions about noise. The lack of, and misleading information forthcoming at this open day was a disgrace. When we asked why we had never been informed or consulted about the Rye Park Windfarm we were asked where we lived and then told that we would only have been contacted if were within 2 kms of the project site! This is probably why so many people here have had no knowledge of this development
By our own calculations - from Epuron's displayed maps - we are definitely within 5kms and it would appear that we are somewhere around 3kms? from the closest turbine.
What I at saw at this open day was also disgraceful. There is nothing professional about a company representative openly arguing with the public.

Epuron state in the EA under the heading of Key Stakeholders
" Epuron and it's consultants have actively engaged with a nuymber of stakeholders including: local community - involved and neighbouring or nearby landowners ...."

THIS DID NOT HAPPEN! There has been no "engagement"
active or otherwise. Too many people in Rye Park have had NO CONSULTATION and too many people in Rye Park have had NO INFORMATION.
Epuron has not even come close to meeting the brief for Community Consultation.

Epuron states:
"A range of wind turbines is being considered for the Project with a capacity between 1.5 and 3.0 megawatts. For consistency of presentation the calculations used throughout this EA assume an indicative wind farm capacity of 378 MW based on a typical 3.0 MW turbine."

It is of serious concern that Epuron has based their EA on 3MW turbines for this project. 3MW turbines as described in the EA, are the largest ever built in Australia, and as there has been no research or studies done on this size turbine, how can ANY assessments be made. Such assessments are not based on precedents, studies or facts..These so called assessments are Epuron's assumptions.

Is the Rye Park turbine development experimental?

Epuron also state that the " turbine selection and location will be completed once final approval is received."

How can the DPI approve a development without knowing what will be built and where it will be built?

For the DPI to approve this project on the EA submitted by Epuron would be irresponsible and negligent in its obligations.

The route from Yass to Rye Park for construction traffic and transport is of concern for every resident here who travels these roads regularly.
The Rye Park Rd (from Boorowa to Rye Park is tar and of questionable quality. The proposed Cooks Hill Rd (from Yass to Rye Park, is, in part, gravel and most certainly not of a standard to take the quantity of traffic and size of vehicles proposed. There is no curb, guttering of line marks.

Of major concern is Yass Strreet, in Rye Park. Flanked at the roadside by residential properties and Rye Park School, it is most definitely NOT a safe access route for any industrial development. The infants and primary children who attend Rye Park School cross Yass Street regularly. The children who attend Boorowa and Yass schools by bus, are picked up and dropped off in Yass Street. There are no footpaths, crossings or lights. None have ever been required because of the extremely low volume of traffic through Rye Park.

To quote from the EA
"In 2010 the NSW Government commissioned a report `Community Attitudes to Wind Farms in NSW' to assess residents attitudes towards targets set to achieve 20% renewable energy sources by 2020. The survey was conducted by telephone of 2022 resident's aged 18 years and older and 300 businesses across the 6 Renewable Energy Precincts, including the ACT/NSW Border Areas and a control area in regional NSW.
One of the key findings from this study was the overall support for wind farms as a source of energy generation within the vicinity of a residence. 85% of the population across the precincts supported wind farms in NSW, with 80% supporting them within their local precinct, and 79% supporting a wind farm being built 10 km from their residence.
Based on this survey, including observations made by the project consultation team, it can be concluded that communities in the Yass Valley region are generally supportive of wind farms. The survey also showed that a majority of the population did not feel they had adequate information about wind farms, even in areas where general wind farm awareness was much greater."

This survey obviously has major flaws. Or maybe it is just outdated (2010), or perhaps those areas who are actually experiencing the turmoil of an industrial development at their doorstep, were just not surveyed.

I would like to inform the DPI of a very recent survey done in the proposed Rye Park Windfarm area.

In June, 2014, we attended a Public Meeting held in Rye Park Hall with 112 other residents from the area. A survey of these residents recorded 91% DID NOT WANT a wind farm in Rye Park.
It was a shame that Epuron did not accept their invitation to attend, or they would have experienced this for themselves.

I have other areas of concern: Fire and Air Support
Telecommunications
Water
Blade Flicker
Noise and Visual Impact


I ask that you will PLEASE listen to the community, or better, come and see first hand, what Epuron has only put together by assumption, behind a computer and from over 400kms away.

Richard Stapleton
Debbie Vanderlaan

Director-General
NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure
GPO Box 39
SYDNEY, NSW, 2001

3 July 2014

Re: Rye Park Wind Farm Project Application - Application Number 10-0223

Dear Sir / Ma'am,

Thank you for the opportunity to make this submission in response to the Rye Park Wind Farm Project Application.

INTRODUCTION

My wife and I have lived in Rye Park since 2010. We purchased our home because it is a unique lifestyle property of 3 acres surrounded by larger farms which guarantees our privacy and secures our peaceful, pastoral outlook to the nearby ridges.

Unknown to us when we purchased was that a large wind farm was planned for Rye Park and that 10 wind turbines were to be sited in our precious outlook within a 2.1 to 3 kilometre range.

Our property looks up to the ridgelines and no amount of screening will restore our current outlook once the wind farm is constructed. Using Epuron's Zone of Visual Influence descriptors our future outlook to the wind farm would be defined as one of `high visibility.'

All 10 turbines in our immediate outlook are to be sited on property owned by absentee landlords who are not part of our Rye Park community. Of great annoyance to us is that our lifestyle as permanent full time residents of Rye Park will be degraded for the financial benefit of landowners who have no intention of being part of our community.

My wife and I are both members of the Rye Park Wind Farm Community Consultative Committee. At a recent committee meeting we were dismayed to learn of the minimalist contribution the mooted purchaser of the proposed wind farm - Trustpower - is prepared to input to the Rye Park community. There is a pervading sense of intended exploitation by a foreign owned company with little benefit to most in the Rye Park community should the wind farm be approved.

LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL IMPACTS

Epuron have provided a photomontage for our property which is grossly inadequate and misleading in the perspective it provides. The image provided is not a realistic representation of the size of the future wind turbines and markedly minimises the visual impact the turbines will have on our outlook. When Epuron were challenged at a Community Consultative Committee meeting regarding this their representative was unable to defend the integrity of the photomontage and other participants at the meeting were genuinely shocked when my wife presented an alternative depiction of how the turbines will more realistically look. I have forwarded this image previously to both the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and the Minister's office.

The turbines are located on the top of hills to our north and north east which makes them more clearly visible from our property. As we look up to them from our front verandah there is no relief provided by topography, vegetation or buildings. Our home will clearly view the entire turbine structure from ground to tip of blade. No amount of screening will improve our outlook once the wind farm is constructed.

While our immediate neighbours all own 500 + acreage we own only 3 acres and we will not be able to escape the visual presence of these wind turbines until we enter our home and close the doors.
Epuron have not made any consideration for smaller lifestyle properties such as ours which are surrounded by larger properties resulting in a more open outlook and consequent higher visual impact.

Should the Rye Park wind farm proceed as planned our visual amenity will be drastically degraded.


NOISE

The reality is that modelling by the developer cannot be proved until the wind farm is operational, which is of concern when the allowable background noise measurement is already contentious. In rural areas background noise at night is often below 20 dBA.

Even during the day our location is very quiet to the extent that my wife and I were enjoying our morning coffee on our verandah when we both heard an unfamiliar noise. We eventually established that what we were hearing was the carpenter using his staple gun on a house being constructed 3 kilometres from our house. One of the reasons we live here is for this peace and quiet. You do not have to be an acoustician to deduce that industrial wind turbines taller than the Sydney Harbour Bridge and located less than 3 kilometres from our home will be very noisy when the prevalent north easterly breezes blow in our direction during the summer nights. Are we expected to close all our windows and doors to try and block out the noise of the wind turbines and then have to cool our house with an air conditioner instead of taking the natural advantage of the cooling north easterlies?

Epuron have not admitted that we will suffer noise disturbance from the wind turbines but the Bango wind farm representative has told us that we will certainly hear the wind turbines as we are located closer than 3 kilometres from them. How are we mean't to cope with sleep deprivation ensuing from the noise of these turbines?

As already stated our property is unique because it is surrounded by much larger holdings which are all pastoral. Consequently we do not have any buildings from neighbours or natural topography or vegetation which could deflect the noise from the turbines. How are we to have quiet enjoyment of our home if the allowable background noise measurement exceeds requirements and what actions will the proponent take to mitigate our degraded lifestyle when this occurs?

ECOLOGY

We are concerned about the environmental impact of this development.

The application identified "eleven vegetation types", "four threatened flora species and one EEC was identified with potential for impact", "nine species of threatened birds and three species of threatened microbats were recorded during surveys", (page 22). Along with the 99 different species of bird identified.

Isn't this significant enough to warrant ceasing all development of the project?

PROPERTY VALUES

The NSW Valuer General Preliminary Assessment of the Impact of Wind Farms on Surrounding Land Values in Australia report indicated that lifestyle properties such as ours were more likely to decrease in value because of proximity to wind farms than larger holdings. We have had first hand experience of property devaluation...and this is before the wind farm is even built.

12 months ago my wife and I approached our bank for refinancing. It was the same bank and the same branch which provided our mortgage for our property at Rye Park 2 years earlier. Because we were refinancing the bank undertook another valuation on our property. The result was that our property had reduced in value by $30,000 in the 2 year period while local properties not close to the wind farm were rising in value. The only difference between the 2 valuations was that this time the bank took into consideration the proximity of our property to the proposed wind farm.

This is clearly indicative that should we want to sell our property, it is very likely that we are going to suffer substantial loss of value because of close proximity to wind turbines. Of great concern, is that Epuron does not offer any mitigating strategies to compensate non host landowners for property devaluation because of proximity to their proposed wind farm when there is increasing evidence that devaluation is a reality.


ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Epuron have failed to undertake adequate planning to ensure the project will be compliant. Plans not included in the application are Traffic and Transport, Erosion & Sediment Control, Landscape Management, Soil & Water, Chemical and Fuel Storage, Fire Management, Rail Safety Management, Waste Generation and Disposal.

Additionally, the model of turbine has not been decided nor the exact locations of these turbines. Consequently, concerns about the environment have not yet been fully identified/addressed nor mitigation measures definitively planned.

It is unprofessional for Epuron to submit a State Significant Development application without fully and meticulously planning the project. This does not inspire confidence for members of the Rye Park community in an industrial project that is going to alter our visual landscape forever and significantly devalue our primary asset - the family home.


Chris and Jenny Hally

290 Little Plains Road, Rye Park, NSW.

Please refer to attached PDF document for a full letter of objection.

See attachment

Here we go again. Another EA that does not have any regard for the NSW Draft Guidelines, particularly when there are so many residences, including within the Rye Park village, within 2kms of wind turbines.
The DGRS was issued in February 2011 and here we are in July 2014.
The Draft Guidelines were prepared years ago. "The Draft NSW Planning Guidelines: Wind Farms have been prepared to ensure effective consultation with local communities and to deliver improved consistency, transparency and rigour in the planning assessment process"
And they are still not used, or required to be considered, by developers?
There should be a requirement for no siting of any wind turbine within 2kms of any residence without agreements being in place.
Noting that the EA claims RFS did not respond to Epuron's request for comment, I hope that the RFS has now lodged a comment as a result of this exhibition.
FIRE is a major consideration. Yass, Boorowa and Upper Lachlan are frequented by bush and grass fires which have proved to be threatening and required major aerial support.
The EA does contain comment on Fire and Bush Fire Risk (see attached). This can be summarised as a plan will be prepared prior to construction (after DA approval) for inclusion in the Construction and Operational Environment Plans, and there will be a number available for RFS to call to have the turbines switched off.
The Crookwell CCC had the local RFS commander speak on the subject (minutes and notes available on the Union Fenosa website) which covered such areas as wind farms being considered an aerial fence, wind turbulence from individual and groups of wind turbines impacting on fire fighting aerial support (or lack of it), turbine access tracks being constructed on ridges (the most dangerous place to be in a grass/bush fire), Lubricants in damaged wind turbine naselles which might be widely despatched by the blades, etc.
And there is the larger 'fence' and cumulative risk by the siting of three very large wind farms in close proximity.
Epuron state themselves, in the attachment, that 'the local RFS would only ever act in a support capacity to the NSW Fire Brigade in the event of an infrastructure related fire onsite...... They have also stated that wind farm infrastructure is not different with regard to bush fire risk than similar large scale infrastructure developments." Has the NSW Fire Brigade, supported by the local RFS, EVER had to deal with "similar large scale infrastructure developments" on the ridges of Boorowa, Yass and Upper Lachlan?
This development should not be allowed to proceed as currently presented. As a minimum, it should be re-designed and re-presented after paying due regard to the NSW Draft Guidelines.

Please find attached a scanned copy of my personal submission outlining the reasons I do not want the Rye Park Wind Farm Development Application approved.

Uploaded submission.

As summarised in the recent NHMRC review on wind farms and health, wind farms are a known of noise nuisance with one study reporting low frequency noise nuisance and vibrations in people's homes up to 10kms.

The NSW Department of Planning is already well aware of my complaints, via representations made by MP Katrina Hodgkinson, that I am at times plagued by a highly distressing and intrusive low frequency noise drone since the winter of 2011 - coincidently very shortly after the time that the Gunning Wind Farm went into full operation in May 2011.

My way of coping with this menace is to live with loud music on many evenings and nights of the years, and in the worst case scenario absconding from home for the night and sleeping in my car further out west on the roadside.

In case the NSW Department of Planning wasn't aware, people buy rural properties for reasons including a place to reside which is serene, peaceful, natural, free of all the noise and fuss of urban areas. They don't go out to rural areas to live amongst industrial zones or to put up with the disastrous low frequency noise pollution they create.

Wind farms are not "farms" they are industrial sites composed of machines of unprecedented proportions. Therefore they have no role in rural Australia and the Rye Park wind farm proposal should be rejected outright.

I am well aware that the current NSW Government wind farms guidelines provide little if any reference to low frequency noise. That however in my opinion does not absolve the Department of Planning of culpability for approving one more highly inappropriate project that will harm human health and wellbeing.

I am very much against the wind farm going up right behind our property. I am concerned very much about my property be devalued dropping in price dramatically. It puts me in a terrible position where I could not ever afford to move on to another property as to much money is lost. We have been here 12 months and it has put a lot of stress on me worrying about the future. My view right from my kitchen family room window and back sitting area looks straight out onto the hills which I love and DO NOT want to be looking at the windmills

I support the Rye Park wind farm. It will provide many benefits for the local community.