Impacts of wind turbines on the endangered Southern Brolga 

Managing the biodiversity impacts of renewable energy – Victoria Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action: Submission 24

Inquiry into Community Consultation Practices – Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee, Parliament of Victoria: Submission 115

Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy – Senate of Victoria: Submission 30

Summary:

The Victorian government and its environment department, DEECA, are preparing to act against the interests of the Brolga by narrowing wetland buffers and reducing other protection standards.

The potential contribution of wind energy production in Victoria to resolving what is a global problem of increased Carbon emissions is tiny. Victoria has a technical opportunity to closely and publicly examine future energy production options. Until this is done, there should be a moratorium on the expansion of wind farms in Victoria.

However, the potential for such a democratic action was sabotaged by the Victorian and Commonwealth ALP governments with the announcement in late January of a $200 million investment to subsidise the aluminium industry’s shift to ‘renewable energy’. This will force increased restructuring of the land, biodiversity and human communities of western Victoria for wind farm expansion in the interests of large energy investors and consumers, as well as ALP governments.

The conflict of biodiversity protection with rural wind farm establishment is reflected in the fact that there is no published analysis of the economics of wind energy production in Victoria. The Victorian government should publish a comprehensive analysis of the options for, and economics of, ‘renewables’ expansion in the state.

DEECA has no scientific justification for the proposed 900m buffer for Brolga nesting sites. Inka Veltheim’s work does not provide any information that could logically be used to legitimately justify such a narrow buffer for Brolgas, in particular because it was not conducted near operating wind farms. DEECA should apply the Precautionary Principle, and opt for a minimum buffer of 5km around all known and potential breeding sites for this endangered species.

Since 2014, DEECA has ignored legitimate ‘citizen science’ research by Hamish Cumming into the impact of operating wind farms on Brolga nesting behaviour – research that has not been challenged. This work should be used as a model to analyse post-completion reports for all operating wind farms and Brolga nesting and flocking sites in and around currently operating wind farms to help inform minimum buffer distances around Brolga nesting and flocking sites based on the Precautionary Principle.

DEECA does not understand the Brolga’s population dynamics and how the expansion of wind farms in Victoria could interact with other activities, such as cropping and draining of wetlands, to impact the state’s Brolga population.

Because there is no detailed understanding of the population dynamics of the Brolga, it is impossible for any proponent of wind farms or rural-based solar facilities to properly consider mitigation actions, or to show a ‘net gain’ or that there will be ‘no net loss’ from such actions. DEECA’s attitude towards the cumulative impact of renewables expansion, that it “could place an unfair regulatory burden on future developments and discourage proponents” should be condemned and abandoned. It is likely to lead to weakening of environmental protections when they will need strengthening.