Opinion
Ever notice that they never build wind farms or acres of solar plants in Ultimo, Ponsonby, or Fitzroy? It’s funny how green-left types who worship at the altar of their bird-chomping eco-crucifixes and deserts of silicon and glass never want them in their back yards. Put up a field of monstrous wind turbines on the heads at posh, Greens-voting Manly, and wait for the deafening screeches of “How dare you!”
No, instead the “environmentalists” are perfectly content for people in the country to see their beautiful environments trashed, so that smugsters in Grey Lynn can charge their EVs and tell everyone how they’ve “saved the planet”.
Well, country people have had enough of it.
When a rent-seeking solar company planned to install 25,000 solar panels in the picturesque grazing and wine country of Mudgee, locals arked up.
The NSW Land and Environment Court agreed. The valley is mapped “visually sensitive land’’ under the local area plan and senior commissioner Susan Dixon concurred that the sea of glass panels would be an “alien’’ feature, an intrusion on the scenic quality of this entry point to Mudgee. “The excessive scale of the proposed solar arrays, located on a site that is within a low-lying, visually sensitive rural landscape setting adjoining the main entrance corridor to Mudgee … demonstrates that the development as proposed is not suitable for the site,” Ms Dixon ruled.
It was a signal to other embattled communities that a town’s scenery and a resident’s sense of place count for something, and it came as a relief for neighbours who had battled almost five years to stop the relatively small 10MW project.
And there’s the rub: “relatively small”. If the demented loons of “Net Zero” get their way, 25,000 solar panels will be a drop in an ocean of glass and aluminium blanketing rural landscapes.
[Mayor Des Kennedy] said his Mid-Western Regional council is juggling another 16 large-scale wind, solar and transmission projects, and more developers come knocking every other week, like it’s some modern-day gold rush.
His shire is located in the Central-West Orana renewable energy zone – the first of five NSW REZs – covering 20,000 square kilometres including Dubbo to the west, Mudgee to the south and Coolah to the northeast.
Again, notably not in the wealthy, inner-city areas of Melbourne and Sydney where Greens voters live.
As the race to replace ageing coal-fired power stations continues apace, the federal government is ignoring calls for a pause to allow for the more detailed planning Mayor Kennedy says is required.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen recently insisted there would be no moratorium.
Well, of course Boofhead would say that.
But it’s not just the environmental devastation of these projects: they’re also exacerbating the housing crisis largely brought on by mass immigration.
As of October, 25 major renewable projects were planned in and around the LGA, requiring a workforce of 7010 workers by 2026. Factor in accompanying families and that’s an extra 9000 people, a 40 per cent increase in population in three years.
Neighbouring Warrumbungle Shire Mayor Ambrose Doolan is facing similar issues.
“To start with we had one project in 2018, now we’ve got 10. It’s the cumulative effect of it all,” he said. “Where are all the workers going to come from? Where will the waste go? How will they get a drink of water? How is it all going to work?
“One of these projects will use more water per year than the town of Coolah. It’s another town supply that we have to come up with.’’
The Australian
Who cares? They won’t see any of this in Sydney or Melbourne, Wellington or Auckland — except from high altitude as the environmental bourgeoisie jet off on yet another holiday to Fiji.