Warracknabeal Energy Park Inquiry

As Week 2 of the Planning Panel Inquiry into the Warracknabeal Energy Park Environmental Effects Statement (EES) has now drawn to a close, it is astonishing how little expertise and experience in the Wimmera Mallee the ‘experts’ called by WestWind Energy have in their related subjects.

These first two weeks have been for WestWind to prove that the environmental impacts of the project are acceptable and where not acceptable able to be mitigated.

WestWind thought that it would be a quick ‘tick and flick’ exercise, however with 97% of submissions opposing the project, they have at the last minutes called in ‘experts’ to convince the panel that there is ‘nothing to see here’.

Led by our amazing barrister Raymond J Broomhall, instructed by Peter Kimpton of KimbriLaw, WMEAP is pursuing the case that the EES as published is not fit for purpose and may pose many real harms to humans, agriculture and the environment.

With questioning from Ray, our committee members and other very knowledgeable community members including Viva-Lyn Lenehan, a tireless campaigner for fairness and honestly within this industry, WMEAP is showing to the panel the distinct weaknesses in WestWind’s case.

Again and again, we have seen WestWind’s experts totally dismissive of our landscape and our people, using language such as ‘sensitive receptors’ when they are referring to people’s homes, and no mention at all of potential harms to human health.

This week we see the hearings again in Melbourne and on Wednesday and Thursday, Ray will bring our experts to the hearing.

If you want to listen in, go to engage.vic.gov/Warracknabeal-Inquiry, go down the page to the box – Join the Warracknabeal Energy Park Inquiry online here

Everyone is welcome. On Monday, Dec 15, the Inquiry moves to sitting at the Council Offices, Warracknabeal for three days.

-Ends-