I grew up on a property north of Rye Park and my mother and brother still live on the property. I did my primary schooling at the Rye Park Public School, High School in Boorowa. I now live and work in Boorowa with my wife and 3 small children, and live close to the intersection of Court Street and Dillon Street. We of course are regular visitors to the farm at Rye Park.
I am in disbelief that an international company can come into our communities, divide the community the way it has, only consult the community enough to be able to tick the box, and offer money to certain sections of the community on the understanding that they will not complain if things go amiss in the future.
The Boorowa/Rye Park area has some of the most unique eco-systems in Australia, and a lot of work has been done by local landowners, my mother included, to save the habitats of endangered species such as the superb parrot by maintaining remnant vegetation and planting new areas. Obviously there have been many people doing this over many generations, and over a period when it was expected that landowners clear-fell their properties. The farmers north and east of Rye Park have always been able to see the value in maintaining the existing old growth, and expanding it. This area may not be as large as the Great Barrier Reef but I believe it is just as valuable and should be saved. Destroying all of this in the name of saving the environment? Doesn't make sense to me. Nothing in this document suggests that Trustpower are fully aware of the extent of damage that will be caused, and no amount of mitigation measures promised in this document will make up for what will be lost.
As I mentioned earlier Community Consultation has been limited. There are to be 11 turbines built in the Yass Valley council area and yet that is where Trustpower have concentrated their consultation measures. The CCC meetings are held in Yass, Trustpower opened an information centre in Yass (six years after entering the area) and it seems surveys have been concentrated in Yass. As a response to submissions the `over mass' vehicle routes were removed from the Yass area.
What about Boorowa? There are to be approximately 75 turbines built in the Boorowa Council area, with the majority of the traffic movements going through Boorowa, and yet I have seen virtually nothing about this project in the Boorowa newspaper, there has been no information centre opened in Boorowa and there have been no information days held in Boorowa. Most people in Boorowa I talk to either think it has all gone away or know nothing about the proposal, and certainly know nothing of the scale of the development. I have not been able to find maps or pictures in the transport section of this document that clearly shows the traffic routes through Boorowa. There is a mention of the possibility of using gravel from a quarry in Cowra (Appendix D), and again there is nothing to show that there may be increased traffic into Boorowa from Cowra.
We live 2 houses from the proposed Dillon Street route. The RTS suggests that there will be 76 total heavy vehicle movements per day and 200 light traffic trips per day (Appendix E, 5.1) over an 18 month period. I think this time of construction has been greatly underestimated as the document points out there will need to be road and bridge upgrades before construction even starts, and elsewhere mentions a 3 year construction period. These traffic movements are not taken into account. Even if these figures are conservative it is a huge traffic burden near my home and an increased noise level that will make life difficult.
I have not been approached by Trustpower, or anyone doing surveys for Trustpower, to let me know of the proposed development.
We purchased our home as an investment and stepping stone to fulfilling our dream of moving back to my mother's property and educating our children in the Rye Park School. We have now put that dream on hold until the decision is made on the future of the Rye Park proposal. We will not be moving to a place where wind turbines can be seen and heard, and would not be educating our children in a village that is to be surrounded by an industrial power station. Why would we invest our hard earned cash into a home when we would never be able to recoup its value? As it is we have just found out that the proposed Bango Wind Farm has an application in to the Dept Planning and that these turbines will be about 192 metres high, will surround Rye Park on the western side and we will be able to see them and hear them from our home in Boorowa!
I have not read this entire document as the repetition within the document made it hard to find information, and very little information was provided on the impacts, or benefits, to the people of Boorowa.
However I did find a table (Appendix K, page 11, table 2a, Assumed Expenditure Distribution) that tells me that the Capital outlay on the local level for Building Construction is 0.0%, Fabricated Metals is 0.0%, Transport is 4.0% and Labour is 2.0%. When you consider that the total build will cost $539.6million (page 6) and that the 6.0% local spend will include Yass, Young and probably Canberra, then I can't see how Boorowa is going to benefit much from the development during the construction stage.
This table also shows the operating Local spend for Building Construction will be 4.0%, Fabricated Metal will be 2.0%, Transport will be 1.0% and Labour will be 12.5%. The operating costs per year of course will be much less, and again when spread throughout the `local' area will be insignificant as far as I can tell.
What we have to gain from the influx of people from Canberra and Sydney looking for a safer, quieter lifestyle is far more than what the `wind farms' will provide to our communities. If the Rye Park WF is approved we will no longer have these people moving to the Boorowa/Rye Park area. Already we are seeing some of these `treechange' people sell up and move away in the Rye Park area, and as soon as the people of Boorowa realise the impacts of the Rye Park and Bango proposals there will also be a retreat from here.
I ask you not to approve the development of the Rye Park Wind Farm and the industrialisation of our Landscape.
Eric Apps and Family

I have been a resident of Rye Park for over 40 years and, along with my husband, have raised our family here. Our home is approximately 3kms from the nearest turbines and will be severely visually impacted by about 10 turbines, although it is very hard to tell how many we will actually see due to the size of them and the inaccuracy of the maps, road names, photo montages etc.
I understand our road is to become a main thoroughfare for development traffic, along with the construction of a new bridge at the end of the street. This will destroy our peace and quiet, as well as risking the safety of our grandchildren and pets.
We have only ever received 2 letters from the developers and have never had a visit from them to tell us about the wind farm, and we have never told them that we support the project.
Our community has been divided by this development. Epuron, followed by Trustpower have secretly entered our community and fostered a feeling of mistrust amongst us for people we have known most of our lives. This is an awful feeling. The whole feeling and look of the village landscape will change due to the clearing of vegetation, widening of lanes, and the building of these unsightly structures. A newspaper article recently (Yass Tribune) likened the Rye Park wind towers to 55 storey buildings, and when you think of 55 storey buildings dotted all over our beautiful rural landscape it is awful.
Although wind farm developers tend to say there are no proven health impacts from wind turbines I am concerned that there is enough hearsay and uncertainty. How will I know if I am one of the unlucky people who are affected?
We are getting on a bit, and of course are thinking of the possible need for Residential Aged Care in the future. We thought our property would be worth enough to give us a comfortable retirement due to us being close to Canberra for people searching for a quieter life. The value of our property will determine the quality of Aged Care we will be able to access if needed. I feel that our property value will now decrease considerably and we will no longer be able to afford what we thought we would.
Please save our village, environment and community and reject this application. I do not think Trustpower should be given any more opportunity to prove this development is a good thing. Six years should be long enough.
Concerned Resident of Rye Park,
Lesley Gibbons

I previously put in a submission in 2014 to this proposal and feel my concerns have not been responded to in this new document, have never been contacted by Trustpower about my concerns, and in fact I now have additional concerns.
My concerns about the effect of the electromagnetic disturbances of the turbines and associated infrastructure will have on my Dorsal Spine Stimulator, and the increased pain I will be submitted to if this will not work effectively in my home, are still very real. I cannot even tell from the new document exactly how far away the turbines will be from my home due to the inaccuracy of maps and road names, and have never had a visit from Trustpower to tell me. I have only ever received two letters from them in 6 years.
And again the visual impact, and associated loss of value of my home, cannot be mitigated in my lifetime. I fear that I will no longer be able to live in the village of Rye Park. Do I need to wait for the turbines to be operating before I find out?
My new concerns include the bridge that is to be built over the Pudman Creek to give access between the village and the development in the hills to the East of the village. There is a spring in the creek at this place that supplies water to many of the homes in the village. Any alteration or disturbance to the creek may result in the spring being blocked and the loss of our water supply.
We as landowners are not allowed to do anything to the creek due to the presence of Pygmy Perch. Our local Landcare group got a grant at one stage to clean up the creek, which we did, and then almost went to jail for it because another authority said we were not allowed to disturb this critical habitat. No one has been allowed to disturb the Pudman Creek since, so how can Trustpower be given permission to do exactly what we are not able to do?
And again, I would be put in jail if I started clearing land to the extent that this development will need to. Would I tell the judge not to worry about it sir, I will plant a few more trees in South Australia somewhere and that will make up for it? Just the clearing of the natural vegetation along the laneways, and the cutting of corners will destroy critical habitat, and also destroy the character of the village as we know it.
The grants, subsidies, or whatever Trustpower would like to call them, that I believe will be given to this company to operate are astronomical. In the document it states the development when operating will only run at 34% utilisation. The Government will not give me a grant to run by business in a way that I can sit around motionless for 66% of the time!
I would be happy to discuss with you further.
Still Concerned Rye Park Resident,
Ted Gibbons.

I live on a property north of the village of Rye Park where my husband and his family have lived for many years. Until my marriage I had lived in Boorowa for most of my life and attended school there. We now have 2 small children.
The proposal to build 109 wind turbines along the range east of Rye Park, and to the south-east of my home, continues to be of great concern to me. This Response to Submissions document was supposed to allay the fears of all those who put in submissions in 2014 but it does not do this. In fact it shows the same inaccuracies and unprofessionalism as the previous document and makes me wonder how this company, or their contractors, can accurately place the many turbines, roads and related infrastructure to plan when they cannot even get the names of local roads right.
The decision to now use the Rye Park/Boorowa Road for the majority of traffic movements is also of great concern. Trustpower's commitment to maintain this road in the same condition it is currently in is no reassurance. This road is currently in poor condition and, even though it is a main road, it is only wide enough between some potholes for one lane of traffic. The hundreds of additional movements each day going through Boorowa and along this road will only deteriorate the road further and make it a dangerous place to live and travel.
I know the world has to continually change but to think my children will never remember the Rye Park area as I have seen it is hard to comprehend, and when the reason is given that it is mitigating climate change how can it be taken seriously when the maps clearly show the turbines are to be built in heavily vegetated areas that will need to be cleared to erect the towers. The over -clearing of forests is one of the major reasons given for climate change.
Our oldest child will soon be ready for school. The closest school to our home is the Rye Park Public School and the Little Plains Road is a bus route for this school. We would love our children to attend the smaller school however the thought of the village being surrounded by hundreds of wind turbines, taking the Bango proposal into account as well, has been the deciding factor in our decision to school them in Boorowa despite the added commitment to get them there. I am concerned about the so far unproven health impacts from infrasound, the feeling of imprisonment the village of Rye Park will have and the disturbing sound impacts of the turbines. Our daughter would also be attending the school at the time of construction and travelling the roads in a school bus will not be the safest option, neither will the increase in traffic through the village. I also do not believe the school will have a future if the Rye Park Wind Farm in constructed. It will not be the pleasant place it currently is and there will not be enough families staying here, or moving here, to keep the school open.
I trust sense will prevail in this instance, and the building of wind turbines in this environmentally sensitive area will not be approved in any way.
Clair Apps and Family

I and my family have lived in the Rye Park area for 20 years, I attended school in Boorowa and now own a business in Boorowa. I also have a wife and two small children.
The plan to build 109 wind turbines in the countryside to the south-east my home fills me with dread, especially as I will also be impacted by the Bango Wind Farm development south-west of my home, and the proposed Rugby Wind Farm to the east, north and south of my home. The visual and sound impact of so many wind turbines surrounding us will make the place unlivable.
The community of Rye Park has, over the years, been a close community and the secret intrusion of Epuron, followed by Trustpower, has divided the community and created a feeling of sadness for those who have been here all their lives. The common argument that wind turbines will `droughproof' individual people's farms is a ridiculous statement, and perhaps is only a statement that can be used by those who cannot run their businesses efficiently. If I ran my business at a utilisation rate of 34% I wouldn't last long, and this is what Trustpower are claiming is the best they can do on average (Appendix K, page 7). If my employees were sitting around motionless for 66% of the day I would fire them, not give them thousands of dollars every year in incentives to do nothing!
Many of the hosts, at least those who actually live in the Rye Park area, have inherited their land and I find it hard to understand that their fathers and grandfathers retained the vegetation and habitats that now house a considerable number of endangered species and ecosystems, and they are now willing to destroy this purely for money. The Rye Park area has been widely recognised as one of the most unique areas in Australia due to this concentration of endangered species and habitats, some of which have not even been studied sufficiently to accurately gauge the impacts this development will have. For the proponent, in the Response to Submissions document, to be only just recognising the Southern Pygmy Perch and the Yellow Spotted Bell Frog after 6 years of research and study makes me wonder what else has been missed, and what else we will lose.
Thousands of dollars and man hours have been spent by Governments, Landcare, Greening Australia, local farmers etc to save and increase the habitat for the Superb Parrot. This will all have been in vain if the Rye Park Wind Farm is allowed to be built. The parrots will not know that they are only supposed to fly in a certain direction and between certain wind turbines! They will arrive in the spring as usual, fly the same way they usually do, and attempt to nest in the same area as they were born. How does anyone know if the Superb Parrots will still attempt to do what they have always done if they arrive in the spring of 2018 and find hundreds of very large predatory birds (wind turbines) in their nesting area. Surely it is better not to take that risk.
Until the information day held by Trustpower in September 2015 our home was not even considered to exist, and it was only that my mother told Michael Head on that day. Even so, and despite the fact that in the document Summary, page 109, it is stated that `the Proponent has expanded the direct consultation effort to all residences located within 5 km of a turbine' we have not yet been contacted. The figure in Table 7-3 states that there are 57 residences 4km to 5km from the proposed development but I have to question the accuracy of this figure when they haven't even found us all yet, and there are very few residences marked on their maps outside the 2km area. My business in Boorowa has just been approached during the exhibition period, and I as the owner was not spoken to, so any reference to the majority of businesses in Boorowa supporting the project can be disregarded due to the inadequacy of capturing accurate information from all businesses in Boorowa.
The future of the village of Rye Park is at risk. The value of our property, along with those of all residences in the area, is of concern. The ongoing biodiversity of the surrounding landscape and environment is in danger. The community of Rye Park is divided. For these reasons I trust you will not approve the Rye Park Wind Farm proposal in any form. Trustpower have had 6 years to prove the adequacy of this proposal and have still not done so. Turning our landscape into something that resembles a `Mad Max' film is not saving the environment!
Shane Apps

Having run my own home on solar and wind power since 1991, I have come to the realisation that alternative power for a home, large establishment or state, requires the use of two natural sources: wind and solar.
While we have solar, it is not available at night. But wind is a 24 hour resource and should be used more extensively. To maintain the power of the wind, we need to have as many wind turbines as possible to ensure continuity of supply. The Rye Park farm will provide that consistency. And with the farms being in close proximity to Canberra and many of our Defence facilities, we need to ensure that we have an alternative source of power, should the traditional coal fired systems fail through a terrorist or military operation.

I am concerned to hear of the above proposal as I regularly visit family in the village of Rye Park.
I believe the industrialisation of rural communities is a very real issue that cannot be ignored. Our food and fibre industries are already under attack from coal seam gas, coal mines and low commodity prices. Our food security is not assured due to destruction of our food markets from countries with cheaper labour. The only thing that keeps some of us in country areas is the trade-off of living in a serene rural landscape, and to destroy this would be the last straw for many of the Rye Park farmers, just so a handful of them can `droughtproof' their farms.
Great for those remaining who could snap up the cheap land due to the lowering of land values, but not so great for the many endangered species of birds, animals, plants and ecological systems that have been so carefully preserved over many generations.
I trust you will listen to the majority of residents of Rye Park and the surrounding farmers who do not want this development to go ahead.
Andy Barrett

I am the landholder to 14 wind towers within the Capital Wind Farm near Bungendore which have been operating for 7 years, and have lived within close surroundings to them. My experience has been very positive. Good access roads have been constructed through rough boulder-strewn country allowing easy access for farm management and for fire trail purposes. Very few trees have needed to be removed, with replanting provided for 10 trees for each one removed. Livestock are totally untroubled, indeed sheep and cattle tend to rest around the towers for preference. Noise is of little if any consequence, and minimal compared to that of wind in the trees.

My family have been in the Rye Park/Boorowa area for a very long time and many of them are still there, including my father.
I am concerned about the Rye Park Wind farm proposal due to the impact it is currently having on the community. There has been a great deal of stress placed on the residents, my father included, knowing that there are members of their community who are willing to destroy the unique landscape, vegetation and wildlife that has been thoughtfully preserved by their forefathers under the pretence of `saving the environment'.
I currently live in a rural community and know the impact such a proposal would have.
I will one day inherit my father's property `Hazeldene', with the possibility of moving back there in my retirement, but this will not be an option for me if the village is surrounded by wind turbines, which it will be if the proposed Bango Wind Farm also goes ahead. I also have grave concerns about the declining value of the property and the very real possibility that I would not be able to live there and would not be able to sell it either.

Yours faithfully
Edwina Barrett

I am a regular visitor to Rye Park and am distressed to hear of the proposal to build a wind generated power station along the beautiful hills surrounding the village.
The visual impact of 109 157 meter high wind turbines along the eastern boundary of the village would be awful, and to put that together with the proposal known as the Bango Wind Farm along the western boundary of Rye Park would be a situation that not even the supporters would be accurately able to imagine until the damage is done.
I live in an industrialised landscape, and for that reason have been interested in buying country in the Rye Park area to escape. The proposed industrialisation of the Rye Park countryside has prompted me to start looking elsewhere.
I realise the land values in the Rye Park area have dropped since talk of the wind farms, and I would probably pick up a bargain at the moment, but it would not be worth it to have to see wind turbines, and to put up with the noise.
From a disappointed Rye Park visitor,
Lisa Hanson and Family.