General News
23 April, 2023
Flushing out flesh wrapping future
LODDON HERALD EDITORIAL THERE are voices and information missing from discussion on what looms as the biggest transformation of the Loddon landscape since the 19th century discovery of gold and railway lines started cutting through the countryside...
LODDON HERALD EDITORIAL
THERE are voices and information missing from discussion on what looms as the biggest transformation of the Loddon landscape since the 19th century discovery of gold and railway lines started cutting through the countryside.
The plan, albeit a far from detailed one, to have a 500 kiloVolt energy transmission line running through the shire has been increasingly front of mind for rural residents since the surprise change of direction was announced just under two months ago.
Farmers have been vocal, not in opposition to renewable energy, but angered and disappointed that the State and Federal Government along with Australian Energy Market Operator appear to be ramming through a big ticket project without discussions and informed alternatives to overhead lines that will not have any capacity to take in locally-generated wind or solar energy. There has been no painting of the canvas that shows what future stages of engagement with local people, dubbed consultation by proponents, will even look like. Only a few members of Parliament representing Loddon communities have entered the discussion space on merits of the plan. Criticism of the consultation process has been plenty, with stock handbook phrases of encouraging people to have their say. But of the project’s merits ... very little.
When the surprise change of route was announced, the Loddon Herald called for a period longer than the initial six weeks. At the end of what will be eight weeks of consultation, Loddon communities are just realising what hundreds of 80-metre transmission towers through the region could look like.
Calls to send the lines underground have been dismissed as too costly. But not once has there been an indication of that option being studied let alone presentation of any cost analysis.
Building a transmission line without capacity to take in locally-generated energy raises questions about adequate planning of the project. If the proposed route is adopted, will we be back in the same space discussing expansion of the line in five years?
The people with the answers - State and Federal Government ministers and AEMO - must visit the Loddon to look, listen and explain to the people.