IS CHALUMBIN SET TO BE THE NEW FRANKLIN DAM?
"There are only 83,000 hectares of wet sclerophyll forest left in North Queensland. Ark Energy is just a ministerial tick away from ripping into a thousand to construct an industrial wind turbine development.
Ark Energy, a subsidiary of Korea Zinc, will learn in September if Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is prepared to disturb the tranquillity of the Chalumbin forest near Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tablelands to make way for 86 mega-wind turbines.
Chalumbin is the new Franklin, a pivotal moment in political and environmental history that will shape the Australian landscape for decades. This time, however, there is hardly a tree-hugger in sight. There’s not been a squeak from the Australian Conservation Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth or any of the usual suspects.
In the most crucial environmental battle of our times, the Greens are deeply conflicted. So too are the teal independents whose campaigns were funded by individuals and companies deeply invested in the renewable sector. Nothing they say on the subject is to be trusted.
Plibersek finds herself wedged. Knocking back Chalumbin will not help Labor ward off the challenge from the Greens in inner-city seats including her own. Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who has set the goal of erecting a 9MW wind turbine every 18 hours until 2030, will be curling his lips. It will be a test of Plibersek’s ability to make a dispassionate assessment.
If Plibersek stops the Chalumbin project, it will send a message that the government is not prepared to sacrifice the greater glider to save the polar bear. It will be a long overdue acknowledgment that the rapacious, land-hungry demands of the renewable energy sector must be balanced against the protection of biodiversity. If she doesn’t, then anything goes. If this land isn’t sacred, what is?”
It’s time to call out the renewable zealots for their own hypocrisy.
It will be a long overdue acknowledgment that the rapacious, land-hungry demands of the renewable energy sector must be balanced against the protection of biodiversity. If she doesn’t, then anything goes. If this land isn’t sacred, what is?”
It’s time to call out the renewable zealots for their own hypocrisy.