Letter Kit: Environment 

Dear (MP name),

 

Re:  Clear-fell today and neglect tomorrow:  Stop, Rethink Humelink

 

With the latest State of the Environment report highlighting that the number of threatened plant

and animal species has risen, and further extinction of Australian species is expected, it is critical the HumeLink Towers overhead transmission line proposal be reconsidered due to its short-term bias and long-term destructive environmental impact.

 

In its current form, the HumeLink Tower proposal will devastate habitats for more than 80 threatened or endangered species of flora and fauna.

 

This alone should enough cause concern for you to ensure that the current proposal be stopped and the solution to deliver transmission of renewables be rethought.

 

HumeLink will directly impact approximately 2500 hectares of land including clear-felling areas of native forests and bushland with serious impacts on habitat, greenhouse gases and global warming.

 

The proposed path for the HumeLink towers is home to a range of endangered, threatened and vulnerable animals including the Koala, Booroolong Frog, Superb Parrot, Dusky Woodswallow, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Yellow-bellied Glider, Eastern Pygmy Possum, Squirrel Glider, Greater Glider, Scarlet Robin, Flame Robin, Powerful Owl, Masked Owl and Booroolong and the near threatened Spotted Quoll. Climbing and flying threatened species as well as protected species such as wedge-tailed eagles are particularly vulnerable to powerlines.

 

Also at risk is critically endangered flora such as the Leek Orchid, Blue tongued Greenhood, Pimelea Bracteata, a tract of the endangered ecological community, the white box, yellow box woodland, remnant native vegetation areas, a nationally important wetland, and land that has been rehabilitated through Landcare government-funded projects.

 

The fragmentation of wildlife corridors, as a result of transmission line easement vegetation clearing, will reduce the biodiversity of flora and fauna. This is particularly a problem on farmland in NSW because the remnant stands of old growth vegetation on farmland are rare and ecologically valuable for biodiversity. Removing more trees on farms comes with a high biodiversity cost.

 

In many cases local farmers have undertaken Landcare projects on their land in partnership with government to revegetate areas and build biodiversity and these projects are being impacted by HumeLink.

 

But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the environmental impacts of the proposal.

 

Decades of scientific research has demonstrated that vegetation clearance directly contributes to a warming and changing climate. Clear-felling an unnecessarily wide 70-metre along the 360km route preferred by Transgrid, adds to our problem of deforestation and climate change.  As does the manufacture of construction materials such as concrete and steel, both carbon-intensive, used to build HumeLink.

 

It is inconceivable to think that in this century, the transmission of green power requires such environmental destruction. While there is no doubt we need renewable energy, the proposed overhead transmission is not the answer – undergrounding is.

 

Taking transmission underground, as they have in Europe and California and as Transgrid has done recently in Sydney, is a much more environmentally responsible option.

 

The benefit of “green power” transmitted by Humelink DOES NOT outweigh the environmental cost. 

 

The significant environmental impacts are NOT congruent with a renewable energy policy.

 

I urge you to support undergrounding HumeLink so that we have environmentally responsible electricity transmission, as we transition to a low carbon energy future.

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Regards,

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(Insert your name here)