People power against plant

With just under 48 hours notice, a public meeting saw around 600 people fill the auditorium at the Laurieton United Servicemen’s Club last Thursday night.

The meeting, organised by the newly formed group Residents Against Polluting Power (RAPP), was called to inform the community on plans to build a diesel-fuelled peaking power plant between Kew and Herons Creek.

Presenting their views were local ecologist Jason Berrigan, real estate agents Stewart O’Brien and Martin Newell, adjoining landowner Brock Vanzino, doctor Peter Mayne and local state MP Robert Oakeshott.

Chaired by Camden Haven Chamber of Commerce president Peter Winfield the meeting resulted in a passionate opposition to the plant and resolutions to act in writing and via public protest.

The first public show of disapproval is set down for tomorrow night (Thursday May 29) at the monthly meeting of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council. The rally will begin at 5pm outside the council chambers in Burrawan Street Port Macquarie.

RAPP is organising busses to collect from the Laurieton United Servicemen’s Club to help as many people as possible attend.

Jason Berrigan said last week’s meeting was the culmination of nine days work, 16 hours a day, collating information, researching, and preparing a submission and presentation to inform the Camden Haven on the state government’s plan.

Mr Berrigan, along with his partner Jacque McLaren and plant site neighbour Brock Vanzino, spoke with other residents and concerned citizens in the past week to form RAPP, bring information to the people of the Camden Haven and rally support for their cause.

The group have used their own funds to pay for media advertising, phone calls, printing leaflets and presentation information.

RAPP is auspiced by the Camden Haven Protection Society who collected donations at the meeting, raising $1,400 for the fledgling group. Further donations can be made to The Camden Haven Protection Society Inc (RAPP) PO Box 234 Laurieton NSW 2443 or through their Commonwealth Bank Account No. 10144603.

The scientists

Jason Berrigan presented information from International Power Australia, the company proposing to build the peaking power plant, and his scientific views on the plan.

He was careful to put his knowledge in layman’s terms for the crowd to understand.

“It’s up to you and me to be the experts during the public exhibition period to see if they are telling us the truth,” Mr Berrigan said.

“When this period is over and they make their final report to the Minister, we don’t see that final report. So we’ve got to act now.

“The problem with this development is that there is a shortage of peak power, that was identified by TransGrid. The drive has been to find someone to fill this vacuum and this is what they’ve come up with.”

Mr Berrigan said the diesel-fuelled proposal appears to be a ‘quick-fix’ to the supply problem.

“I don’t think they’ve offered a thorough assessment on alternatives of wind and solar.”

Mr Berrigan also had a problem with the way the proposal is being portrayed online.

“They’ve called it the Herons Creek Peaking Power Plant and in their maps make it seem as though it’s not near any urban or growth area. But the locals know it’s quite close to our township. In fact its legal address is Kew. It should be called the Camden Haven power station because that’s the people it’s going to affect.

“IPRA argue the plant will only be used 10 per cent of the time as a top up. That sounds good, but their air quality assessments are based on the plant operating at 100 per cent of the time. They’re adamant that won’t happen and that it will not impact on human health but we need an independent expert to evaluate that. We have great air quality now and that’s going to change.”

The neighbour

“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Brock Vanzino and I’m Goddamn angry.”

Mr Vanzino owns land immediately next door to the site for the proposed power plant. He and his partner have plans afoot to create an eco-tourism holiday destination on their property, and at one stage offered to buy the power plant site from Port Macquarie-Hastings Council at the marketed price of $200,000 to ensure their business future.

“This proposal has been a campaign of misinformation from day one. I’m an adjoining landowner and I didn’t know.

“Not informing the general public is nothing short of criminal. By their own admission and numbers 100 people [in the surrounding area of the plant] are negligible. We are negligible. That’s because they only chose to look at a one kilometre range around the proposed site.

“We know that Lake Ridge is two kilometres. We know that Area 15 is coming which is two to three kilometres.

“In my reckoning if you’ve got a smoke plume that’s going to be reaching eight kilometres; that’s the area they should have been targetting information to the people.

“As far as what myself and my partner Bill will have to put up with, our main residence is 300m from their storage tanks which will hold 1,500 tonne of diesel. Even by [IPRA’s] own admission, if the plant operates only ten per cent of the year that equates to over 19,000 tonne of diesel. In simple terms, the average tanker truck is 23 tonne, that’s 874 truckloads of diesel that will be delivered onto that site. That is also increased traffic on the highway.

“In any sort of emergency, and there are other hazardous chemicals they are planning to store on site, as soon as they have any sort of mishap whatsoever the highway will shut. The plant is about 50m from the road. These are the things they are going to have to consider.

“As far as noise emissions are concerned, by their own admission, the noise level will exceed the decibels at my residence and the sleep deprivation will be at its greatest between 2am and 4am.

“Did they contact me? Yes. In January 2007 I had a strange letter from the local council saying there was a private company wanting to look at a site next door for a peaking power plant.

“I asked for an onsite meeting and told them in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t wanted. That was the last we heard of that, until we all found out about it [two and a half weeks] ago.

“I have a letter from the NSW Department of Planning listing the requirements that the company, International Power, is supposed to adhere to. Under Consultation Requirements it says ‘you must undertake an appropriate and justified level of consultation during the preparation of the Environmental Assessment.” Not after the assessment has been put to the Minister for Planning. They’ve failed dismally. Nobody knew.

“The peaking power plant is not for the Camden Haven as the spin doctors from the company would have you believe. This will benefit everyone from Stroud to Coffs Harbour. The developers in Coffs Harbour would be rubbing their hands with glee because they can develop their land and the Camden Haven can have the pollution.

“When you take the time to read through the submission; there are so many unanswered questions. I hope you take the time. We’ve all got our own minds, let’s use them and give them heaps.”

Real estate agents

LJ Hooker agent Martin Newell and Settlement First National’s Stewart O’Brien believe the construction of the power plant in this midst of the Camden Haven will hurt all residents in the hip pocket.

“I’m aware of purchases that have not proceeded since the power plant plan came out. What affect will it have when it’s actually here?

“Properties located close to this kind of infrastructure are harder to sell, it’s a stigma effect. People will use the fact that the power plant is there to get a cheaper price or look to other areas to buy and we will see a weakening in the market. I have no data on this but it’s common sense,” Mr Newell said.

“We market the Camden Haven on its pristine environment. People from Sydney come here to escape the pollution. Will they still want to come to live near a power station?

“Interestingly the cover photograph of the Mid North Coast Growth Strategy is of the pristine Camden Haven.”

Stewart O’Brien said the stigma effect of the power plant is already hitting the community.

“I’ve got three letters from people who have lost sales due to the planned power plant,” Mr O’Brien said.

“There were people in Herons Creek who missed out on the sale of their property. They’d had the building and pest inspections, the contracts were due to exchange on May 15. These people now have no sale. The people purchasing the property have outlaid money, they’re out of pocket too.

“It will affect everyone. We have to tell all buyers that this plant may or may not happen. Would you buy in an area affected by a power plant or would you look elsewhere?”

Mr O’Brien later said: “We want you as a community to know how this all works, how it’s going to affect your lives so we can act together to stop this power plant. We need you to know, so you are informed, so you can make your own decision and be armed with the truth. We (RAPP) are working for you so we can all keep living in the pristine Camden Haven. We want your help.”

The Doctor

Laurieton GP Peter Mayne addressed the 600-strong crowd wearing two hats; as a doctor and private pilot with knowledge of atmospheric conditions – thus effects of pollution plumes in the air.

Using his own knowledge and six hours of research on medical servers Dr Mayne said health issues surrounding diesel emissions relate to conditions such as asthma, chronic airways disease, to heart attack and cancer of the lungs, bladder and prostate.

Dr Mayne showed a picture taken from his Bold Street office of the smoke rising from a controlled burn near North Brother Mountain earlier in the week. Due to atmospheric conditions the smoke stayed close to the ground and thus closer to people, instead of rising into the air. Dr Mayne believed in such common atmospheric conditions exhaust from the proposed power plant would act in the same way and have a damaging affect on health.

From a medical article Dr Mayne read: “Even a perfectly healthy human at 18 or 20 years of age can be severely and adversely affected by diesel combustion discharge. Exposure to air pollutants at ambient concentrations, (what we are going to get standing on the main street of Laurieton) are important conducers of airway inflammation in healthy subjects. People with asthma, allergies and other respiratory illnesses appear to represent more sensitivity to air pollution.

“All the research basically says the same thing about how the discharge from diesel causes a considerable amount of airways damage.”

In regard to cancer, Dr Mayne found that particles from diesel emissions can be very fine and settle in the deepest areas of the lungs, thus getting into the blood stream, the heart and the brain, causing damage to all of these organs.

Dr Mayne also found a link between carbon emissions and mesothelioma – the cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

He also read from an article which stated that a 100KW power line looses seven per cent of its power if it travels a few miles and can maintain that for 4000 miles.

“We would run a 100KW power line from here to Perth and it would only loose seven per cent of its power,” he said.

The MP

Member for Port Macquarie Robert Oakeshott congratulated the RAPP and the community for staging “the biggest rally on any political issue that I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a pretty clear picture to me and if there’s anyone here from International Power tonight it should be a clear picture to them as well,” Mr Oakeshott said.

“I certainly will be passing the message onto the Department of Planning and to the Minister’s office too.”

Mr Oakeshott said in the lead up to the last state election, March 2007, he spoke about the proposed power plant and again in September 2007.

“That was based on what I thought was general community knowledge about a general proposal. As far as details are concerned, I found out at the same time as everyone else in the community.”

He said he remembered attending a local event about five years ago where people were talking about an energy crisis, where the environmental issues surrounding supplying power would clash with the demand for electricity.

“We are on a collision course in our lifetime between demand and supply. All of us have an expectation that if we flick the switch the lights will stay on.

“People are not changing their consumption habits and that’s going to be a real issue of our time.

“We all love having electricity at our finger tips. None of us want to know about the details of making it.

“I’m happy to work in with RAPP and the community to knock out this site as a location for the plant. But I hope you’re with me on trying to see substantial change on the demand side and use of electricity so that we don’t need more of these [power plants] in the future.

“No one’s investing to a large extent in renewable energy. No one likes the petrol price rises and we’ve got a growing population with the increased use of electricity. It is a collision course and peak loads is a real issue that all of us trying to build better communities are struggling with.”

Mr Oakeshott said he was looking forward to working with RAPP and the community, arranging a meeting with NSW Planning Minister Frank Sartor as soon as possible in Sydney and at a local level with International Power and the council.

“The council have a say in all this, as the land owner they don’t have to sell the land, it’s at their discretion,” he said.

“We’ve now got a really challenging and stimulating debate going on in the community and there are some really good solutions coming out.

“We are trying to get an extension on the deadline to submissions (See Page 7) but please, I ask for 20 minutes of your life, make a submission (refer to contact list provided in the Courier). Email a copy to me as well and then I’ll send it in so there’s a double whammy for your single submission. The council have offered to send in submissions too. So one submission can be sent three times. Otherwise phone state parliament 9230 2111 and ask for Frank Sartor’s office. This is your democracy, hook in. Stay engaged in the process, don’t just walk out of here and think the job’s done. Make a submission, use your own language, be emotive and tell the minister how this is going to affect you. This is just the start, stay in touch with RAPP.”

Comments from the floor

“I’m a school teacher and Camden Haven High School is going to be sitting right under the smoke plume. I’m concerned for our kids.” Kelly Millar.

“I’m from Lake Munmorah on the Central Coast and I know first hand of the affect of this. I didn’t move up here to be faced with another damn power station. I was on the council on the Central Coast for nine and a half years. I know what action groups can achieve if we pull together and do it methodically. Without your shoulder to the wheel you will have this power station here.”

Fay Brennan, newcomer to the Camden Haven.

“Who would be willing to donate $500 and form a cooperative to buy this land from council?” Brock Vanzino, landowner, who alleged the sale of the land had not yet taken place. Around 90 per cent of the crowd raised their hand.

“Peaking power demand will get to a point where it is 24 hours a day.” Luke Mitchell, resident.

“To clean up my yard and burn off leaves and branches I need a letter from council and a $90 permit because Port Macquarie has a Clean Air policy, but they can sell this land for $200,000 so we can breath diesel. We will work to stop this.” Helen Christiansen, Lake Ridge resident.

“I am the president of the local Labor Party Branch and I will be taking the message from this meeting to our group and encourage our members to support us. If we work hard on the facts there’s a good chance we can knock this off.” Alan McIntyre.

“The price of oil at the moment is $135 a barrel next year it will be $200, how the hell are they going to pay for this thing?” Camden Haven visitor for more than 20 years.

“Queens Lake is the biggest nursery for fish and oysters and it’s around 2.5kms from the site. Between that and the lake is National Park. We aren’t allowed to ride motor bikes in there or horses, and they are going to build this? At the end of the day it’s our local area that needs protecting.” Resident.