Author: Robert Bradley Jr.
“There are signs that we may have reached peak madness as opposition to renewable energy developments grows in regional and rural Australia… Angry over rampant proposals for solar, wind and transmission developments, Motivate communities to take action.
“I am frustrated by green activists’ indifference to the fate of giant gliders and other native wildlife that are losing their natural habitat in the renewable energy boom,” Nick Carter recently posted. He went on to detail:
The destruction of vast swaths of native forest by installing wind turbines along the Great Dividing Range has been detailed in environmental impact reports for projects such as the Upper Burdekin (Gawara Baya) wind farm in Far North Queensland.
Here's an excerpt from Tanya Plibersek's approval of the project in April:
“In order to avoid and mitigate damage to protected matter, the approval holder shall not remove more than:
“a) 605.3 hectares of sandman rock wallaby habitat,
“b) 581 hectares of Great Glider (Northern) habitat, including:
“i) not exceeding 331 hectares of Great Glider (Northern) tannin habitat, and
“ii) not exceeding 250 hectares of Glider (northern) foraging habitat,
“c) 581 hectares of Masked Owl (Northern) habitat,
“d) 614 hectares of koala habitat,
“e) 616 hectares of red goshawk habitat, including:
“i) Not exceeding 331 hectares of red goshawk breeding habitat, and
“ii) not exceeding 285 hectares of red goshawk feeding habitat,
“f) 614 hectares of grey-headed flying fox feeding habitat,
“g) 614 hectares of spectacled flying fox feeding habitat
“h) 546 hectares of big-eared horseshoe bat habitat,
“i) 545 hectares of naked sheath-tailed bat habitat,
“j) 614 hectares of white-throated needletail habitat,
“k) 614 hectares of fork-tailed swift habitat, and
“l) 0 hectares of occupied magnificent nesting frog habitat”These are vulnerable and endangered native species. Should developers be allowed to destroy even one hectare of their valuable habitat?
Cater added in a “collateral damage” post on his Substack site, “Reality Bites,” subtitled “If you want to save the planet, it’s okay to destroy larger glider habitats.”
A giant glider leads the way in the annual marsupial race. Australia's largest gliding possum has knocked the much-coveted koala into second place in the latest rankings. Fittingly, the winner of the battle between creatures struggling for survival will be announced next week on Channel Ten's The Project, which has been teetering on the edge of extinction for some time.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has been campaigning for support for the panda-eyed and teddy-bear-eared eucalyptus chewers. “If you like smooth gliding, extra fluffy fur and smelly conversations, vote for the Great Glider!” it urges on its website. The population of giant gliders is said to have halved over the past 20 years due to bushfires and logging.
It is strange, to say the least, that the ACF has not protested against Lotus Creek, where 310 hectares of native forest are about to be bulldozed to make way for wind turbines.
Lianhuaxi Wind Farm is 100% funded by the Queensland Government and supported by the Commonwealth. The environmental costs of the project, located in the Conners Mountains near Glencoe State Forest, have been well documented. Researchers counted 138 large gliders during the environmental assessment. Old trees provide cavities for these creatures to rest during the day. The area provides rich habitat for koalas and shed pigeons, and is a refuge for powerful owls and white-throated pintails, both of which are listed as vulnerable.
The culprits are at the highest levels of government.
Shortly after Tanya Plibersek took office as Environment Minister in 2022, she received an ecological assessment report setting out the requirements for the national environment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Five matters of great significance. However, Plibersek overturned Ley's decision and approved the destruction of the remaining jungle on the Great Dividing Range that had remained virtually untouched by agriculture.
The ACF did not express doubts about the atrocities at Lotus Creek. It also did not raise objections to Twiggy Forrest's Upper Burdekin (Gawara Baya) wind turbine development project, which was rubber-stamped by Plibersek in June. The same goes for French giant Neoen's plans to build Mount Hopeful 65 kilometers west of Gladstone, which Plibersek approved in April this year and the Boulder Creek wind farm in June 2022. Wind Farm), a wind farm owned 50% by the Queensland Government.
Carter continued:
Wind turbine development could also destroy larger glider and koala habitats in the Fox Mountains north of Ingham, and at Moa Creek and Boulder Creek west of Rockhampton. The Queensland government has approved all three agreements, with Plibersek's signing considered a mere formality.
The chasm between Plibersek’s actions and words is enough to be seen from outer space. On Friday, Plibersek announced that the government would co-host the Global Positive Nature Summit in Gadigal County, also known as Sydney, next month. “Australia can be a global leader in protecting and restoring nature and halting biodiversity loss,” she said.
The “environmentalist” movement is wrong.
Yet our nature-advocating environment minister has approved the destruction of at least 1260 hectares of glider habitat in Queensland's ancient forests, while passive environmental groups such as the ACF, Greenpeace and the Wilderness Society are urging the government to roll out renewable energy faster.
The three activist groups, which had combined revenues of more than $58 million last year, are staunch advocates of renewable energy and vehemently opposed to nuclear energy. No one is prepared to question the cumulative damage to the environment caused by land-requiring wind, solar and pumped hydro power schemes. They showed little compassion for the dozens of rural communities that pious urban bureaucrats drew lines on maps and forcibly vilified.
continue,
A European Union ban on the import of beef contaminated by deforestation has given laptop campaigners another opportunity to crack down on rural Australia.
ACF is engaged in a sly campaign of moral equivalence to delineate strictly regulated removal of woody growth rotations On a well-managed Australian farm Ranchers in the Amazon illegally cut down trees.
Campaigners want the definition of “senior growth” changed to anything over the age of 15. If beef cattle farmers become collateral damage in the EU's virtue propaganda campaign, so be it. To them, anything that accelerates the glorious vegan revolution must be a good thing.
'Save Our Big Backyard' movement takes green left to new level level Unstable, blatant hypocrisy. There is good evidence that the greatest threats to the sanctity of our native vegetation and wildlife come from wind and solar farmers, not the cattle industry. Vast tracts of land that have survived more than 200 years of settled farming are being sacrificed to protect the planet.
Given the collateral damage of the anti-CO2 movement, Carter asked, how will future Australian citizens and government officials view it?
Future generations will look back on these people with scorn. They will gaze upon scarred hillsides where roads were built with dynamite and the ground was cleared to build huge concrete pads the size of football fields to house giant wind turbines that have long since been dismantled. They will wonder how on earth a wealthy, sophisticated and environmentally conscious country could approve such a thing.
Future anthropologists will write textbooks on the religious fervor that led early 21st century humans to believe they could harvest energy directly from the wind and sun. They would be puzzled why nuclear technology was not adopted, just as Mesoamerican cultural historians wonder why the Aztecs never discovered the wheel.
There are signs we may have reached the peak of madness as opposition to cowboy renewable energy developers grows in regional and rural Australia and people in cities start to take notice. The backlash is particularly pronounced in Queensland, where the Labor government appears to have given up hope of retaining any seats north of Sandgate. Anger over rampant proposals for solar, wind and transmission development is spurring communities to take action. Anti-renewable energy billboards funded by small donations have started appearing along the Bruce Highway south of Gympie…
Final comments
Nick Cater tells the truth about wind power from an ecological perspective. His persistence documents the plight of the “green is hard” modern environmental movement, which has made a deal with the devil in its one-dimensional crusade. Will any real environmentalists please step up?
Relevant
