Farmers Assoc wind farm guide a farce
Press Release by Member for Hume Alby Schultz MP|January 29, 2013
The NSW Farmers Association's first wind farm guide supposedly to help farmers make informed choices on whether to host wind turbines is an irresponsible act of partisan pro wind turbine propaganda. Lack of forensic research background on wind turbines and their impact on communities, fire fighting, neighbours of host farmers, gag clauses, litigation issues and health to name but a few is not just an oversight it is downright amateurish and lazy incompetence.
The NSW Farmers Association's first wind farm guide supposedly to help farmers make informed choices on whether to host wind turbines is an irresponsible act of partisan pro wind turbine propaganda. Lack of forensic research background on wind turbines and their impact on communities, fire fighting, neighbours of host farmers, gag clauses, litigation issues and health to name but a few is not just an oversight it is downright amateurish and lazy incompetence.
Member for Hume Alby Schultz MP today described the recent announcement by the NSW Farmers Association that it had released its first wind farm guide supposedly to help farmers make informed choices on whether to host wind turbines as an irresponsible act of partisan pro wind turbine propaganda.
"The document funded by a grant from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, supported by NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker is a classic example of an alleged responsible farmer organisation in its ignorance and poor judgment failing to offer its members balanced advise relating to the positives and negatives of hosting wind turbines on agricultural land," Mr Schultz said.
"No mention has been made by the NSW Farmers Association that …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]Member for Hume Alby Schultz MP today described the recent announcement by the NSW Farmers Association that it had released its first wind farm guide supposedly to help farmers make informed choices on whether to host wind turbines as an irresponsible act of partisan pro wind turbine propaganda.
"The document funded by a grant from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, supported by NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker is a classic example of an alleged responsible farmer organisation in its ignorance and poor judgment failing to offer its members balanced advise relating to the positives and negatives of hosting wind turbines on agricultural land," Mr Schultz said.
"No mention has been made by the NSW Farmers Association that it had engaged GHD Pty Ltd as consultants for drafting its much lauded "Wind Farm Guide for Host Landholders" nor indeed that this company embraces the wind industry as high worth clients."
The guide was generated from GHD's ‘power' division led by a Julien Gaschignard, a former wind industry representative who has close ongoing connections to the wind industry and the Clean Energy Council (formerly the Wind Energy Association of Australia)," he added.
"The lack of due diligence by the NSW Farmers Association doesn't stop there it also accepts praise for its efforts from the NSW Minister for the Environment. A minister in the O'Farrell/Stoner Coalition Government which owns two wind farms at Blayney and Crookwell through state owned company Eraring Energy." (Conflict of interest and the ramifications of that on development approvals and other matters will be the subject of a future article.)
"In the meantime, one would have expected any responsible farmer organisation to have done its homework given the impact wind turbines have on the social fabric of rural communities notwithstanding the serious issue of fire fighting in close proximity to industrial wind energy developments on agricultural land. It also begs the question - is the NSW Farmers Association aware of the increased costs of electricity (The cost of RECs - Renewable Energy Certificates - to Australian electricity consumers including farmers) created by wind turbines?
Lack of forensic research background on wind turbines and their impact on communities, fire fighting, neighbours of host farmers, gag clauses, litigation issues and health to name but a few is not just an oversight it is downright amateurish and lazy incompetence," Mr Schultz concluded.