Councillors worry about climate - sort of

The Wellington Councillors professed concern about climate change is belied by their failure to vote in favour of the Devon North wind farm proposal....


Gippsland Times & Maffra Spectator
Friday 20/10/2006, Page: 3

WHILE all Wellington Shire Councillors who spoke at last week's meeting believe immediate action needs to be taken on climate change, some believe it's difficult for council to make a real difference.

None of the councillors who voted against the Devon North wind farm could think of a suitable place to locate one in Wellington, although Cr Jeff Amos suggested an area surrounded by plantation.

Councillor Peter Gault acknowledged there was "a lot of concern" in the community. "(But) it's really the levels of government above us (which can make a difference). "There are big issues which really need to be addressed... basically coal burning power stations," he said.

"Bass Coast have looked into tidal energy and are very keen, there's a huge resource running in twice a day." Cr Amos also doubted council could single-handedly attract alternative energy forms to the area.

"I don't know whether we could do anything along those lines, it's usually controlled by other levels of government," he said.

However Wellington Shire could be renowned for renewable energy if Cr Beth Ripper gets her way. "When people sit in a cafe in Melbourne they are warmed by gas from Gippsland, the water in their coffee is from Gippsland, their electricity is from Gippsland," Cr Ripper said.

"We are the energy centre of Victoria ... my vision is we should promote ourselves as the driving force in alternatives." Cr Ripper said Latrobe City Council was replacing streetlights with low energy streetlighting.

Energy efficient devices could be promoted on the council website, she added. "The problem is while we have 500 years of coal and a grid, we don't look elsewhere," she said. "Everything ... is being commercially driven against people thinking about it.

"With wind and tidal ... if we're not in there with technology today, even though it's inefficient, we'll never progress past that." Significantly less polluting coal technology was a long way off, Cr Ripper added.

Cr Darren McCubbin said people needed to make the link between the drought and climate change. "(Climate change) is the reasonblind Freddy could see that. "Perhaps the (fact) we're so tied to coal fired power is the reason we've been in drought for six years ...

compared to the rest of the world we are really slack in terms of what we churn out of coal fired power stations." Cr McCubbin warned if alternatives were not developed the likely option would be nuclear, which would be "scary for Gippsland".

"They've looked at sites in which (nuclear) power stations would be placed, Gippsland is certainly on that agenda." Council could be doing "much more" to encourage efficient use of energy and promote alternative energy sources, according to Cr McCubbin, who added he would be pay more for energy to produce a better environmental outcome.