What an exciting weekend we have coming up. This weekend is the annual Wheels on Wide Bay motoring festival. Held at Maryborough Park, WOW is an event all car enthusiasts must not miss. But we digress..
What is not to be missed this weekend is the State Government’s regional cabinet meeting. The meeting itself will be nothing more than hot air but lets see how many of us can get out there Sunday afternoon with our Anti-Dam posters, shirts, bikinis - whatever and show the government we are not going to back down. We don’t want your dam Anna - not now, not tomorrow, not ever!
Great for the dam protest. Traveston dam is not the only threat to the Mary River. No one mentiones the weir that has changed the river downstream or the irrigators that suck gigalitres out of the river and stop the flow. No one mentions the gravel extraction industries that degrade the water quality. No one mentions the petrol guzzling ski boats that last weekend hurtled up and down the river at great speed eroding banks and causing who knows what damage to wildlife. Where are the protesters on these issues. If they are serious, they should look at all the river and not just one damm dam.
Good on ya Angela, you’r spot on. Trouble is, it’s difficult to get people exited about one issue, let alone many. You worry about the “petrol guzzling ski boats” and so you should. But what about the Wide Bay
motoring festival? Burning rubber, points for speed in and out of corners (sliding),plus petrol at $1.70Ltr? Conservation! What’s comservation?
BBS writes: We’re not going to get back into this debate but we’ll just say if you wowsers want to moan on about the tiny bit of fuel motorsports uses then we better start planning to ban all whale watching - sorry jonangel and friends - one single whale watch vessel uses more diesel in a single day than the entire 170 strong fleet of race vehicles will in two days of racing at Wheels on Wide Bay. And we’ll go further to add that many of the racers will be using renewable fuels - bet we can’t say that about the whale watch fleet can we!
The motorsports industry leads the way in developing alternatives to the fossil fuels today’s society is so dependant on for recreation and business. Let’s stick to the facts!
Yeah the whole river is important and the barrage is probably the most damaging thing on it at present. Maybe we should focus on preventing doing more damage in the short term and in the long term try to repair the damage done.
Most people who know the river reckon the barrage should be removed AND Traveston should still NOT go ahead.
Andrew McNamara said he would remove the barrage if traveston went ahead. But nobody believes McNamara. We all know he is a typical politician who will promise to “look into” something then never do anything. “Mirror man”. If he has his way he will build the dam and do nothing about the current problems, just add to them.
There is nothing sustainable about dams. Climate change forcasts from Mr McNamara’s own office say rainfall will decrease in the catchment. Where are the innovative solutions? So much for the Minister for Sustainability Climate Change and Innovation!
So we’re going to push through a dam that doesn’t work and at the same time demolish a dam that is currently maintaining a whole industry - what happens to all the cane growers who depend on the mary for irrigation water?
Offstream storage must be investigated but there is no sense in removing existing infrastructure that works.
Angela, you are right about the issues that you raise. As Secretary of the Greater Mary Association(GMA), I can inform that the GMA is not solely focussed on only stopping the Traveston Crossing Dam. Our charter is protect the Mary River and the Great Sandy Strait. Please don’t distract us from the biggest and most urgent threat to the Mary which is the proposal to build the Traveston Crossing Dam.
Join the GMA and help us fight for the Mary. Check out our website http://www.ourgreatsandy.com and you will see that the GMA is not only focussed on the Traveston Dam.
Hoping to see you and thousand more at Tafe on Urrawen Road on Sunday
BBS, while you do not wish to re-open this debate, you in fact have. I finished my input with “Conservation”! “What’s conservation”?
If we agree oil is a finite resource and if we also agree pollution is effecting our world. Then we need to look at ALL the ways we can reduce pollution and conserve oil. At the moment we are all happy to talk the talk but whinge when the impact is on us! The first thing a realist must do is look at wants as against needs. We also need to ask what impact will what I do have on our children and their children. Every one’s “little bit” ends up being a bloody lot.
THE MARY RIVER
Point taken Angela , but if they actually build Traveston , you wont have to worry about all that , because there will be bugger all water in poor old marys veins and arteries , it will cut her throat .
So i would ask you to consider fronting up toomorrow , to show some solidarity with the other members of the Mary catchment communities , who have had this monstrosity proposed by Macnamarras Band of labor thugs from brisbane, dumped on them without a community consultation process.
What you say is correct , there are uses of the Mary which require improved management , and we are working on them at the regional level , but the threat of Traveston surpasses any use issues we have with the river , and i say this as a local professional working in the NRM domain at the regional level.
There is a very strong movement in the catchment to manage the Mary holistically , but first we must defeat or at least hamper , the juggernaut of brisbane centered water resource theft , upon our region.
We can’t encourage sustainable use of the Mary River at the regional level , until we fight off the most significant threat this river has faced in 200 years of unsustainable use !
Getting rid of Macnamarra at the next state election , wil be a good first move .
BLIGH CABINET PROMOTES TRAVESTON IN SPAIN!
Save the Mary message goes to Spain….
Damian Bathersby & AAP (abridged)
Traveston Dam opponents will be in the international spotlight this week when the project is featured as one of the world’s most inappropriate water developments at the 2008 World Expo in Spain.
Glenda Pickersgill from the Save the Mary River Coordinating Group is heading to the expo where she will join Wayne Cameron from Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee, and others in the team, to tell a global audience about the Queensland Government’s proposal to dam the Mary River.
The European Rivers Network has supported the Mary River campaign by including it in a major international display at the 2008 World Expo, which runs for three months.
The exhibit highlights the effects of water infrastructure developments throughout the world on the communities they displace.
The Queensland Government’s actions against residents of the Mary River basin have been included in the list of 22 inappropriate water developments chosen by the European Rivers Network to be placed under the spotlight of international shaming at the expo.
Laughter , the best medicine , beside vegemite soup!
http://rogercurrie.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/happy-little-alp-vegemites/
Garnaut on Water Parks and Dams
“Climate change is likely to reduce the water available from traditional sources
(such as dams and aquifers) for urban users. In order to cope with this change,
alternative supply options, such as desalination and water recycling, have been
included in the modelling. The costs and increased energy demand associated
with desalination and water recycling have been included. “ Garnaut” pp 235
They did not bother modeling for increased water availability due to the modeled predictions for less rainfall . So there will be more Dams with less water in them .
“The back of the envelope method provides a reasonably close measure for
the actual impacts because demand for agriculture is relatively insensitive to
price changes. Rather than affect output, the loss of productivity will result in
agriculture drawing more resources from the economy in order to meet this
inelastic demand. We expect this result since food is an essential consumer
good and climate change will most likely make food production more difficult.
Producers will need to adapt to climate change and this adaptation will require
significant additional resources.
In order to maintain production at levels justified by domestic and world
demand and prices, agriculture will need more resources. These scarce
resources will have to be drawn away from the rest of the economy.” Garnaut pp 242
Should the agricultural sector not have the ear of the state and federal governments of the future, I suggest there may be resource wars over the availability of the water resource. Unless of course the governments of today start to invest in water supply alternatives which have been eluded to in the first paragraph!
Let us hope that the Bligh government has a second assessment of their plans to build 13 new dams in Queensland which according to Professor Garnaut may never fill!
Might I suggest that one of the most sustainable investments of the pork barrel funding for the Waterpark, would be to create a water recycling project for 30% of Hervey Bays daily demand , this increases Lenthalls daily inflow capacity by 30% , even if its not raining. If they can recycle the proposed water for the Waterpark, Hmmm!
Now would that be a Smart move by a Smart State Minister for Smartness and Innovation, in fact would that not be an innovative move in a sustainable direction on climate change? Is that not the purpose of the portfolio?,
VIVA LE SPAINA!
S
ave the Mary Campaign awarded recognition at Homage to Defenders of Rights for Rivers and Life.
For immediate release 7th July 2008
The World Expo city of Zaragoza, Spain erupted into Worldwide community action over July 5 and 6. Homage to the Defenders of Rights for Rivers and Life were held in a historical Zaragoza Theatre. Filmed excerpts from people suffering the consequences of draconian policies of Government imposing large dams and privatization of water were shown. Musicians, dancers and poets performed along with presentations and speeches of selected community action groups.
Australia was included as one of the eight selected case studies to be awarded recognition for their efforts in the “Save the Mary River” campaign. Glenda Pickersgill representing the Save the Mary River Coordinating Group received the world activist award ‘The Green Dragon’, founded from the initial actions on the Erbo River where the symbol was used on the front of activist’s boats.
“The people of the Mary River catchment have already suffered unjustly by this dam proposal. The Australian Government has good water policies. But the eyes of the world will be focused on this water shed decision that Peter Garrett must make in the next few months as to whether the damming of the Mary River will be stopped’, she said to the international audience. ‘In the face of climate change there are more reliable and lower cost alternatives including demand management, water recycling and desalination for water supply.’
This campaign to save the Mary River from destruction of the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam has been taken to heart by other non government organizations in Europe, Americas and Asia. This is the first time grassroots groups from Australia have joined their counterparts overseas.
The production was followed by a demonstration and street march through the historical city of Zaragoza.
End
Media contact and further background information:
Glenda Pickersgill 0061 411443589 pickerg@bigpond.com;
Wayne Cameron alanacameron@optusnet.com, b4c@bulimbacreek.org.au or
Heather Barns (Bulimba Creek Committee) 07 34204800
SaveTheMaryRiver website http://www.savethemaryriver.com.
The el faro pavilion http://www.elfaro2008.org
A CARBON NEUTRAL DAM?
Michael Madigan and Glenis Green
July 08, 2008 12:00am
THE proposed Traveston Dam near Gympie could pump up to 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere each year, a new report says.
The University of Technology Sydney report said the Queensland Government had not accounted for thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions which would be produced each year by pumping up to 70 million tonnes of water from the dam to Brisbane.
The report put the $1.7 billion project, the state’s biggest piece of infrastructure, squarely at the centre of Australia’s proposed Emissions Trading Scheme.
It raised serious questions about whether it would stack up financially if emissions permits sold for the expected $20 a tonne under the ETS.
But Infrastructure and Planning Minister Paul Lucas said a forest was being planned to offset emissions from the project and said it eventually would be carbon neutral.
“When complete the entire 2000ha of timber plantation will offset up to 850,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions – more than offsetting the 140,000 tonne construction carbon footprint of the dam,” Mr Lucas said.
Parts of the report by the university’s Institute for Sustainable Futures were commissioned by Mary Valley councils opposed to the dam.
The report said the State Government neglected to consider emissions from pumping water and emissions coming off the dam’s surface when assessing its carbon footprint.
“Even desalination, itself a last resort in a severe drought, would result in fewer emissions at 280,000 to 350,000 (annual tonnes) to yield the same quantity of water,” the report said.
National water expert Professor Stuart White estimated 110,000 to 270,000 tonnes of methane and carbon dioxide could be released from the dam’s surface each year.
“Not only are these impacts a cost to the environment but the forthcoming national emissions trading scheme, as recommended by Professor (Ross) Garnaut, will mean these emissions place a significant financial burden on the community,” he said.
Anti-Traveston Dam campaigners, led by Kevin Ingersole and Kandanga farmer Glenda Pickersgill, yesterday suggested that Premier Anna Bligh’s pro-dam position might have softened in recent months.
“Previously the Premier and other ministers have been saying they are absolutely determined the dam would proceed,” Mr Ingersole said. “Now they are adding the caveat ‘if it stacks up environmentally’.”
Note that Lucas only comments on the carbon footprint of the dam , not the CO 2 emissions from pumping to Brisvegas .
This must be why the local member is saying that the science stacks up? Well at least we know the CO2 emissions will stack up!
BBS,
I know motor sport is dear to your heart, so thought you might like this. A quote claimed (30/6/08),from the Wheels on Wide Bay Motoring Festival “I used 165 litres of fuel and burnt out 10 tyres in one day”.
So much for peoples concerns over petrol and it’s price.
What they didn’t tell you was the person in question sponsored a whole group and those tyres where used on 5 or 6 different cars. There is a fine line we in the industry must tread and part of that is offsetting our “fun” with other activities such as tree plantings, recycling and use of renewable fuels.
The trouble with today’s society is that we are not questioning what the governments tell us is the “truth” over so called global warming. Even if our whole nation could abandon cars and trucks tomorrow and go back to horse and buggy we’d never make one ounce of difference as long as China and India keep growing exponentially every year.
As a nation we do need to improve and move to renewable resources - like demanding our governments stop allowing our solar technology companies to abandon us for the US as well as look at other “easy” fixes such as improving urban design.
But at the end of the day, those who can afford it should not be denied the opportunity to enjoy life. If someone can afford to pay tens of thousands to run race cars or their own private airstrip or whatever then good luck to them.
There is no ‘cure ‘ for testosterone, hence the fast car syndrome. I would hypothesize that ‘older’ males who indulge are mere youths trapped in an ageing body, with a testosterone surplus , rather than deficit !
Protesting about the proposal to build Traveston Dam just got a whole lot easier with a new letter generator on http://www.stoppress.com.au.
It’s a critical time in the NO DAM campaign, with the Federal Government poised to review the issue and make a decision on whether it should be allowed to proceed.
NOW IS THE TIME TO TELL THEM WHAT YOU THINK!
Head to http://www.stoppress.com.au to fill out a simple form and automatically send a letter of objection to the key political figures involved in this decision process. It only takes a moment, but the end results will be vital… lets fill those mailbags heading to Canberra with our message - SAVE THE MARY RIVER!
Also, slightly belatedly, there are now photos on http://www.stoppress.com.au from the protest at the State Labor Conference on the Gold Coast. Check them out… if you were there, you may feature in some, and if you weren’t, see what you missed!
And, if you’re in the mood for some serious shopping, there’s new merchandise available now on the Save The Mary River Online Store. Go to http://www.savethemaryriver.com/shop/ to see the latest.
So that’s it… head over to http://www.stoppress.com.au and check it all out!
Yours in activism,
Arkin
http://www.stoppress.com.au
activism in pictures… and now in words! New letter generator ONLINE NOW!