Warrnambool Standard
Tuesday 24/4/2007 Page: 5
DROUGHT-STRICKEN Lake Bolac residents have joined forces to urge the Federal Government - and even Arnold Schwarzenegger -to embrace renewable energy in the fight against global warming. The Lake Bolac Eel Festival Committee yesterday sent a communique to the Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull urging him to consider the long-term benefits of green power. An environmental forum, held as part of the recent festival, heard from a leading New South Wales green energy activist, Howard Morrison, who emphasised the potential for consistent renewable sources such as wave energy.
The communique was also sent to environmentalist and Australian of the Year Tim Flannery, Opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett as well as international sustainability leaders including, California Governor Mr Schwarzenegger and Canadian environmental scientist David Suzuki. "The drought is severely affecting our community. The lake is drying up and the eels are dead," the communique said.
"This drought, on balance, appears to be related to global warming." David Allen, chairman of the eel festival committee, who runs cattle and sheep on his Woorndoo property, said he has seen the effects of climate change first-hand. "Being a farmer and waiting for rain it's particularly relevant for me and it's hard to believe it's not related to global warming," Mr Allen said. "The main aim of the communique is to get the Government to open its eyes. .. coal is yesterday's energy form - it's ancient.
"We should be smart enough to use cleaner sources of energy." "One of the things (Howard Morrison) is saying is that wave energy is a lot more constant." A wave-powered generator currently operating in Port Campbell created enough energy to power 500 homes, Mr Allen said. Inland areas such as Lake Bolac could one day install local renewable sources to feed directly into its power grid, he said. Only 15 per cent of the power produced at Gippsland's Yallourn coal-fired plant reached consumers in the south-west, with much of it lost on its long journey, Mr Allen said.
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