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https://theconversation.com/how-to-beat-rollout-rage-the-environment-versus-climate-battle-dividing-regional-australia-213863>
"In August, Victoria’s Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny made a decision that
could set a difficult precedent for Australia’s effort to get to net-zero
emissions by 2050.
In considering the environmental effects of the proposed $1 billion Willatook
wind farm 20km north of Port Fairy in southwest Victoria, the minister ruled
that the developers, Wind Prospect, had to build wider buffers around the wind
turbines and observe a five-month ban on work at the site over each of the two
years of construction.
Her reason? To protect the wetlands and breeding season of the brolga, a native
crane and a threatened species, and the habitat of the critically endangered
southern bent-wing bat.
The decision shocked many clean energy developers. Wind Prospect’s managing
director Ben Purcell said the conditions imposed by the minister would reduce
the planned number of 59 turbines by two-thirds and make the project “totally
unworkable”.
Kilkenny acknowledged that her assessment might reduce the project’s energy
output. However, she said “while the transition to renewable energy generation
is an important policy and legislative priority for Victoria”, so was
“protection of declining biodiversity values”.
The military uses the term “blue on blue” for casualties from friendly fire. In
the environmental arena we now risk “green on green” losses, and agonising
dilemmas as governments try to reconcile their responses to the world’s two
biggest environmental problems: climate change and biodiversity loss. "
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
