Lawsuit in wind as farm gets nod

The Australian
December 22, 2006
Ewin Hannan

THE Howard Government faces a multi-million-dollar lawsuit from the developer of a wind farm after Environment Minister Ian Campbell caved in and approved the project - eight months after blocking it over an alleged threat to the orange-bellied parrot.

The proposed cost of the Bald Hills wind farm has blown out by $30 million to $250 million, and its developer, Wind Power, revealed it had sought legal advice about recouping the extra costs in the wake of Senator Campbell's reversal yesterday.

"We are getting legal advice on whether we can sue the Government on any losses we sustain," director Andrew Newbold told The Australian.

In April, Senator Campbell overruled advice from his own department and blocked the proposed wind farm southeast of Melbourne, citing risks to the endangered parrot. It was revealed in The Australian, however, that the frequency of an orange-bellied parrot fatally colliding with turbines was, at worst, once every 1000 years.

Opponents and supporters of the wind farm yesterday condemned Senator Campbell over his handling of the project, with the Victorian Labor Government claiming his "humiliating backdown" had been preceded by months of cynical politics.

Lobby group the Coastal Guardians urged the banks not to provide finance for the project, and local residents will hold a community meeting tomorrow to consider new moves to try to stop the wind farm.

Local federal Liberal MP Russell Broadbent said he was "very disappointed" by Senator Campbell's decision. "This is a real blow to the people of this area who have fought long and hard to protect endangered wildlife and the amenity and beauty of the Gippsland coastline," Mr Broadbent said. He said the fight against the wind farm was not over, given that no energy company had yet agreed to buy electricity from the project.

Senator Campbell said yesterday that his department, which had previously approved the project only to be overridden by him, had backed the wind farm "subject to key changes to the turbine layout, and strict conditions to protect the orange-bellied parrot and other threatened species".

But the changes do not substantially alter the project, and serious doubts remain about whether the orange-bellied parrot was ever under threat from the wind farm. As previously reported by The Australian, the company has only been required to move six of the 52 turbines that had been within 2km of the coast - the parrot's potential migratory path.
"My concern with the initial wind farm proposal was the risks posed to the threatened orange-bellied parrot which I believed were unacceptable," Senator Campbell said.

Under other minor conditions, turbines or related infrastructure cannot be built within 300m of the boundary of a local wetland reserve, or within 800m of the edge of the largest area of open water habitat within the reserve.

The company must submit an avifauna management plan, including the identification of a qualified independent observer to undertake monitoring on site of listed species as well as any bird strike. Any death of threatened or migratory species must be reported to the Government within 48 hours. A second death would result in the temporary shutting down of the project while the developer provided a further management plan.

"Having thoroughly considered all information presented to me in relation to the proposal, I am satisfied that the strict conditions attached to this approval will address the risk to threatened species that may use the area," Senator Campbell said.

The company, which will provide $30,000 a year to help protect birds, said the delay had blown out construction costs from $220 million to $250 million. Victoria's new Planning Minister, Justin Madden, said Senator Campbell "should hang his head in shame for needlessly delaying a project that will help combat global warming".

"We can only hope that Senator Campbell has learnt a valuable lesson from his humiliating backdown today, and that he will refrain in future from playing politics with other important state infrastructure projects."