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.

submitted pdf

We are pleased to have the opportunity to make a submission in response to the Rye Park Wind Farm Project Application.

We have lived in the Rye Park area all our lives and raised our family here over the last 16 years.
We are writing to you to voice our concerns and therefore opposition to the proposed wind farm mentioned above, of which our property is of close proximity and definitely in viewing distance.
Not only are the turbines going to be an eyesore, but it is the other `unknowns' that are our main concerns.
* The uncertainty of the effect on our own health & even livestock health (infrasound)
* The potential danger to the habitats of protected species around the area, with these habitats being damaged or even removed
* The devaluation of our property, therefore affecting future lifestyle or retirement plans
* Damage to roads and increased traffic during construction
* Increased bushfire threat due to decreased aerial water bombing around turbines
* Uncertainty of increase in insurance costs
* The amount of money the government is pouring into these projects, when other areas that should be government funded are lagging behind - eg. medical system, education system, rural roads, etc. Why can't there be subsidies for solar energy which is less invasive on people and the environment and a proven energy source.
All of these concerns are real & are made more worrying due to `secret' style meetings that are held with proponents & a lack of information from turbine companies showing `both' sides of the equation. We are within approximately three kilometres of proposed turbines & have not yet been approached by anyone to inform us of this officially.
We trust you will consider our submission, along with others you will receive and help us in putting a stop to this.