Compo offer retracted: Angry residents demand wind farm moratorium

Locals meeting with Taurus Energy executive director Martin Poole were told his previous offer, made at a public meeting held in Parkesborne last January, to pay landowners for any devaluation of their properties, "had been made in the heat of the moment and was not something we can do".
 
Gunning landowner Sarah Bucknell said residents attending the meeting opposed to the planned wind farm at Cullerin, said there needed to be an urgent "State Government code to stop these developers running roughshod over country Australia".
 
She said Mr Poole promised to write a letter to the editor of the Goulburn Post clarifying his firm's position.
 
Michelle Edwards of "Waiontha" Cullerin, said members of the Upper Lachlan Shire Council would be meeting with NSW Planning Minister Frank Sartor next Monday to call for a moratorium on wind turbines until a Code of Practice protecting landowners' rights could be put in place.
 
Local Rural Fire Service captain, Rod Edwards of "Bohara" Breadalbane, said he was "deeply concerned" as to how firefighters might fight a fire in a wind tower should a blaze breakout.
 
"We are living in one of the State's driest and most fire-prone areas, particularly in summer, and many believe these towers pose a fire risk," he said.
 
"Several have caught alight in Europe and only recently a fire broke out in one turbine in South Australia.
 
"The mix of oil and electricity can be a potent thing, particularly when something seizes or goes wrong and with the 16 turbines actual generation equipment planned for the Cullerin area expected to stand 80 metres high, we do not have equipment to fight such an outbreak.
 
"People refer to these developments as being wind farms but in reality they are industrial sites through and through and should be subject to industrial fire fighting protocols."
 
Taurus plans to build three wind farms to be located at Conroy's Gap, about 17km west of Yass; the Cullerin Range, about 12km east of Gunning; and Evandale, some 15km north west of Goulburn.
 
Each proposal is for up to 16 wind turbines mounted on steel towers up to 80m tall.
 
Editor's note: Despite repeated attempts yesterday to call Mr Poole on his mobile phone, he, or his co-director, Andrew Durran, could not be contacted for comment regarding this story. Nor had Mr Poole's letter arrived when this issue closed for press late yesterday.