Thursday 29 August 2013

State Corporation, Powerlink vs Woodduck Landholder Group

This is an excellent article about the Woodduck Landholder Group from page 20 in the Surat Basin News insert, 29th August edition of the Chinchilla News.  The journalist for the Surat Basin News has combined the breaking story about the Wodducks group's plight in Roma's Western Star newspaper, Wallumbilla north residents' unequal battle with Powerlink ,  with points raised by Rebecca Beissel in a letter to the editor. 

Residents say high voltage power network is ‘too close to homes

Rebecca Beissel with son Beau Beissel and daughter Maggie Beissel and Jenny York are concerned Powerlinks' transmission project will affect their health and safety.
Photo sourced Western Star
Rebecca Beissel with son Beau Beissel and daughter Maggie Beissel and Jenny York are concerned Powerlinks' transmission project will affect their health and safety.
 
It was back in March when this site first brought attention to the Powerlink  proposal the construct multiple high voltage transmission lines in the north west of the Surat Basin in a web over the land of farming families to supply electricity to coal seam gas infrastructure. This first article focused on landowners north of the town of Yuleba. The Woodduck group are nearby, north of the town of Wallumbilla. They have been reluctant to go to the media. The August 14th article in the Western star the first time that the Woodduck group have gone to the press. They have bent over backwards in trying to be reasonable, to accommodate Powerlink, and to offer viable alternatives; all to no avail. A stalemate has been reach. This is no NIMBY group but they are also determined that Powerlink are not going to go through at just any cost
 
 
UPDATE #1
In the above article SANTOS tried to wash their hands of any responsibility for Powerlink impacts upon farming families. The Woodduck Group have responded with this letter below. They also point out that further undisclosed activity by SANTOS will result in more Powerlink high voltage transmission lines impacting on yet more landowners.
 

Further reading:

Related articles:

 

 


5 comments:

  1. after being diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia just over 20 years ago which doctors attributed to possible effects of electromagnetic radiation from my occupation involving heavy welding, I did many studies into electromagnet radiation.
    What was very clear was that world wide, there are many thousands of cases that point towards a very high incidence of cancers being caused by electromagnetic radiation from power stations and power lines and other radiation sources.

    The existence of the electromagnetic field is indisputable but authorities which are mostly always Government of Power Company owned and controlled do not want to admit that their power generation is causing sickness on a very large scale in close proximity to power lines and sub-stations.
    The most concerning thing that I discovered was that the effects seem to affect children more than adults.

    Doctors will tell you that your body runs on electrical impulses and any interruption to the electrical workings in our body can and will have detrimental effects if exposed for extended periods of time.

    In my own case I was exposed to very long periods of exposure to electromagnetic radiation because I worked (welding) sometimes 7 days a week from daylight to dark (and beyond)
    I was production welding with the welding lead coming from above my head, across my shoulder and down my arm to the hand piece. Full exposure for many hours each day.
    I watched a demonstration where a man got into a cherry picker and was lifted up while holding on to a fluorescent tube. When it got half way up to the wires, the tube lit up because of the electromagnetic field there.
    As a person who has been affected by electromagnetic radiation I fully support the people in their fight to have this situation rectified.
    It is about time that the health and wellbeing of people was given precedence over the greedy grab for money.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In the QCL article,Wallumbilla worry rides on the line, Woodduck group spokesperson, Rebecca Beissel said
    "The evidence about the impacts of living near transmission line developments is inconclusive but the Leukaemia Foundation recommends prudent avoidance of homes, schools, playgrounds and other locations frequented by children."

    This isn't a closely settled area, those lines don't have to come close to houses. Alternative routes are possible and in fact the Woodduck group has spent 11 months trying to negotiate an alternative alignment through their properties to a large government corporation who in their arrogance refuses to listen.

    ReplyDelete
  3. An update has been added to this discussion in the form of a letter to the editor that was published in Roma's Western Star newspaper.

    SANTOS tried to wash their hands of any responsibility for Powerlink impacts upon farming families. The Woodduck Group have responded with this letter. They also point out that further undisclosed activity by SANTOS will result in more Powerlink high voltage transmission lines impacting on yet more landowners

    ReplyDelete
  4. Peter, that is interesting but sorry to hear of your own personal experience. Years ago we lived in an outer Gladstone suburb surrounded by bushland where we used to walk our dog, an Irish setter called Riley. In one part well away at least a km from our house, a power transmission line passed over the bush track. Suddenly the dog would quiver and slink to the ground, refusing to move. We thought he was crazy and couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Now that bush area is all houses, and a sports field.
    When we first read about the suspected risk of high voltage transmission lines a long time ago now, we releaised Riley knew. He must have been a very smart dog as others did not share his fear of the lines.

    ReplyDelete
  5. In the past I have read about many cases where cattle, horses and other animals have refused to cross under power transmission lines, obviously aware of something with them that we cannot see or feel.
    Here is just one site from the internet that describes the effects on cattle and horses and where farmers have actually won big compensation claims because of the health effects attributed to what they term "stray voltage" this article gets more interesting when you read down a few pages and the story starts to make sense.

    This is an american article but things may be worse here because the Americans use a far lower voltage than we do but I am not sure if the actual transmission lines carry less than ours do. It is an enlightening read.

    http://www.concernedcitizensmontana.net/Publish/Appraisal.groupone.pdf

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to a place that has a focus (but not exclusively) on regional and rural Australia open for anyone living anywhere to read, learn and interact. Please feel free to make a comment.

You can use some HTML codes such as, a for active; b for bold; i for italics

Active code - substitute a for @
<@ href="web address">linked words

[Click Here] for a link to another site where there is a very good simple explanation.