Wind farm and Marinus cable
ALAN Birchmore (The Examiner, July 6) is right to caution us about the Battery of the Nation and the push to have wind farms indiscriminately developed throughout Tasmania to provide power to the mainland.
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Victoria gains power - Tasmania wears the scars and pays dearly for the privilege.
The Central Highlands St Patricks Plains Wind Farm proposal has 67 turbines of 240-metres high (three times the height of Wrest Point) in an area promoted for three years by the government for its unique environment and world-class fishing and home to endangered Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles and devils.
Surely such an iconic area should be a designated a "no go" zone with protection from wind turbine industrialisation.
Tasmanians are told we will be paying our "fair share" of Marinus, so it is highly unlikely our power prices will decrease.
Surely the new cable costs should be borne by energy operators (already receiving the government subsidy for renewable energy) in the same way all Tasmanian export producers have to pay for transportation costs to their markets. Why should taxpayers and future Tasmanian-based energy customers contribute to the cost of Marinus when the ultimate beneficiaries are the operators of the wind farms, the majority of whom are foreign owned?
David Ridley, No Turbine Action Group chairman.
Youngtown dog park plea
DEAR City of Launceston council, could we please have an off-leash dog park at Youngtown near the new development?
Our nearest one is at St Leonards and it is small, crowded and very muddy and slippery in winter.
Diane Jessup, Youngtown.
Borders - keep them closed
TOO much risk in opening borders while Melbourne is still in crisis.
Ann Jackson, Spreyton.
It's a bloody long run
IT is always great to see people raising funds for great causes like the Alex Gadomski Fellowship. The irony for me was group hugs at the conclusion, in an era of social distancing, on the grounds of the Menzies Institute for Medical Research.
Peter Freak, Norwood.
Will they ever be happy?
WHY do you keep continually printing letters from WRAP? They keep twisting their own and everyone's words, bully locals who support the project.
I used to live in Westbury but had to move out not long ago because there is no work there. I would love to get a job and some qualifications, but every turn of this project, WRAP delay with selfishness and no understanding of what it is like to want to have a job close to home.
Will they ever be happy?
All of their concerns were addressed. It won't be so close to town, the lights won't be bothering them, they don't complain about the lights at Tas Alkaloids which is much closer. It won't be visible from the highway, the arable land will not be taken, the industrial land won't be used.
The new site seems to be an unofficial local tip, which now the story fabricators have upgraded to a "reserve".
They wanted the site put on crown land out in the bush (Meander Valley Gazette, November 2019). All those things have been done, and they are still not happy.
They need to stop thinking of themselves only, the majority of WRAP members are either retired or misinformed blow-ins.
William Badcock, Waverley.
Look at the bigger picture
WE have another politician who sees the big picture to ease traffic congestion in the City of Launceston in Bass Liberal MHR Bridget Archer along with Labor Leader Rebecca White and Launceston MLC Rosemary Armitage to build the Eastern Bypass.
May I say to Bridget that many studies have been conducted into routes, surveys completed and the routes have been drawn on freely available maps.
One part of the route was even funded until this money was diverted South.
An Eastern Bypass means more than an alternate route through Launceston and the Eastern Suburbs but it would bring relief to the residents along the government-approved Defacto Eastern Bypass route along residential streets. Relief comes from fewer vehicles transiting, less engine brake noise sometimes at 4.45 am, less pavement damage which is more apparent in wet weather, less carcinogenic emissions, less dirt on the streets, less atmospheric dust that settles on everything and everywhere, dust so fine that residents are unaware that they are breathing it in. I am sure the Authorities have no idea of the vehicle count and type along the Defacto Eastern Bypass.
Dennis Camplin, Ravenswood.
Euthanasia bill opposition
ONWARD Christian soldiers would appear to be once more the battle cry, but the enemy has changed, euthanasia is now the enemy. Our Archbishop Julian Porteous is rallying the troops and spoke to the Australian Christian Lobbies Tasmanian conference (The Examiner, June 29).
He said and I quote "Let's go forward hoping and trusting that God will guide us and help us and we'll find a way again to protect human life" if we have a good look at God's track record with that. I won't be holding my breath, COVID-19 is an outstanding example. No-one but me has the right to decide how I end my life, so I will ask the Archbishop, Eric Abetz, Chris Brohier and any of their ilk to give me the right to choose.
If the good Christian soldiers wish to die in pain and suffering, then go with god.