22/4/2008
The Hon Peter Garrett MP
Minister for the Environment
PO Box 6022
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Dear Mr Garrett.
On 18/12/2007 I wrote to you, Mr Rudd and Ms Wong expressing our concerns regarding Victoriaʼs Desalination project. I appreciate the time you all took to reply to our concerns, however I am disappointed at your refusal to our invitation to meet with us.
Your Water Your Say is a large and rapidly growing community organisation involving over 700 people from the Bass Coast and all of Victoria, along with countless other supporters. Outrage at three aspects of the project binds this group as one;
• Lack of meaningful consultation from State Government.
• The damage that the project will inflict on the local terrestrial and marine environments.
• The massive contribution that the project will have on climate change.
We have demonstrated via collation of State Governmentʼs own information that the Desalination Project is not needed to assist in securing Victoriaʼs water future. Desalination is the most expensive way to supply water to Melbourne and it is certainly the most environmentally damaging. This project will result in the emission of up to 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere every year. It can never be truly carbon neutral; carbon offset and emissions trading schemes surely must not be used to justify polluting industries that
have economically viable and environmentally p