download the complete letter - ywys ees referral response - pdf

15/12/2007

The Hon Justin Madden MP
Minister for Planning
Level 17, 8 Nicholson St.,
Melbourne, Vic, 3000.

Dear Minister,

Further to our letter dated 7/12/2007, we have examined the EES referral form and preliminary investigation
reports in more detail. This process has confirmed and strengthened our assertion that an open EES with
broadened terms of reference to address climate change implications and sustainable alternatives to desalination
is absolutely mandatory.

To date and despite repeated requests, at no stage during the feasibility and planning stages of this project
has your government made available any information as to why the multitude of responsible alternatives to
desalination are not being addressed to their full potential, while this most environmentally damaging of all
solutions that is incompatible with carbon emission targets is being fast-tracked. Your governmentʼs argument
of the need for a “rainfall independent” water source and justification by green offset / carbon trading
schemes are flawed and irrational.

Contrary to Mr Holdingʼs public claims that the referral documents allay any fears associated with the project,
it is made very clear by the various authors of the reports that the information is preliminary, incomplete and /
or based on extrapolation from remote sites. This may account for the many inaccuracies and deficiencies
that appear throughout the reports. There is a paucity of information on various subjects such as power
supply and the environmental effects of the transfer pipeline, with massive consequences at stake. Thus the
referral documents themselves essentially demand a full EES.

Your water minister has stated that work will commence prior to completion of an EES. In the absence of
much of the above information, in light of comments expressing the need for further investigations within the
referral documents and in the absence of a Cultural Heritage Management Plan, it is incongruous that any
work (including that of a pilot plant) commence prior to the completion of an EES.

This project will have massive and widespread environmental, social, cultural and amenity effects. Fair
process demands completion of a full and open EES prior to commencement of any work to mitigate the vast
implications for the local community, our country and the global environment. Because due process earlier
in the projectʼs planning failed to address alternatives or climate change impacts, the terms of reference of
the EES must be broadened to include such.

Following is a brief summary of just some of the deficiencies within the referral documents that must be addressed
by the EES.

Yours Sincerely

Chris Heislers
on behalf of Your Water Your Say.

heislers@netspace.net.au
0419 556381

Your Water Your Say Action Group Inc.
www.yourwateryoursay.org
c/o Kilcunda Post Office, Kilcunda, Vic, 3995

download the complete letter - ywys ees referral response - pdf

This is what the new Shadow Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water had to say to his Labor counterpart, Peter Garrett.

Greg Hunt’s letter to Peter Garrett

Please find the time to read our invitations to the Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, to the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong & the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

- Invitation to Peter Garrett
- Invitation to Penny Wong
- Invitation to Kevin Rudd

Here is the response to our invitation:

Please click on here to read the Premier’s response

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an invitation to consultation - pdf file

4 December 2007

Dear Messrs. Brumby, Holding, Madden and Jennings,

Further to your earlier promises of ongoing consultation with our
community and in view of last week’s referral of the project to Mr
Madden, we cordially invite you to visit the proposed site of the
desalination plant to meet with some of the affected community.

We still have not received answers to our concerns, in particular as
to why economically and environmentally responsible solutions to
securing our water future have not been implemented; and why
you are pursuing a last resort first.

Continue reading YWYS - letter - invitation to consultation »