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KV-POPSE MEDIA BRIEFING

It is a little like groundhog day.  Another day - another supposedly green project.  However, this one is curiously “paused” just before an election.  A project whose viability is linked to significant Government support.  A project which, in truth, is actually moving full steam ahead to obtain approvals but for after the election.  A clever approach – arguably yes – allowing it to fall outside the glare of an election campaign and possibly difficult questions about the prudent use of taxpayer monies.  An approach, however, that the community feels shows contempt for it and its concerns.

Worryingly, it does not seem to bother big business or the Government what the commercial or environmental merits of a project are any more as long as it can be seen to tick the “green” box.  A little like a “jedi” mind trick.  In other words, it appears that “green” is increasingly being used by big business and the Government as synonymous with “good" notwithstanding a project's costs or its impacts. 

This is how the proposal by Origin Energy to expand the Shoalhaven Hydro Project is viewed by a very large (and growing) number of the community and other concerned citizens in and around Kangaroo Valley - called KV-POPSE (People Opposed to the Power Station Expansion).  Time to stop lazy money and policy supporting exorbitantly expensive and damaging projects.  It is time to build better and build smarter.  

Those opposing the project fear being bulldozed and blasted into submission.  There is nothing green, fair or sensible in trampling the world-renowned Kangaroo Valley environment and its landscape.  Nor devastating its community and its businesses and unique wildlife and other flora and fauna through 1,000s upon 1,000s of large truck and vehicle movements, explosive blasting, constant tunnelling, unheard of noise, dumping of acidic debris and denuding many hectares of critically important bushland.  All this (and more) over 5 to 7 years, 7 days a week 24 hours a day.  The indifference to these disturbing impacts is astounding.

All this for a project which has already been determined not to be commercially viable by Origin Energy - not once but twice.  First in 2019 and more recently in early February.  Determinations reached on the back of over around $7.5 million of Government support for pushing ahead with feasibility studies and approvals.  Wasted funds when anyone who has dug a sandcastle at a beach would know that Origin Energy’s plans to dig and tunnel over, under and through the unique Valley escarpment and through one of the only enclosed Valleys in the world was going to cost a bomb and would never make commercial sense.  In terms of dinosaur technology – who would buy a blackberry anymore.  Outdated, unsupported and not fit for the future.  True of pumped hydro and this project specifically.  Bolting onto a 50 year old scheme that uses more power than it actually generates just because it is there is not clever.  It is lazy old-world thinking.  Not very “greensmart”.

With their heads apparently in the sand (or in the escarpment), Origin Energy and the Government have confirmed, nevertheless, that the project will be pushed forward.  This was expressly made clear by Origin Energy to a meeting with the Shoalhaven City Council where it noted that it was targeting Ministerial approval for the project by the third quarter of this year (come what may).  Ah – the sizzle of Government funding.  An apparently bloody-minded determination to proceed despite the myriad of concerns and profound impacts the project will have and despite it being wholly uneconomical and using technology that will be superseded by the time the project is eventually finished.  This approach raises so many questions that do genuinely need to be answered.  Questions that apply across a whole range of projects and initiatives our Governments are all too ready to fund or prop up at the drop of a hat.

A little more colour:  Did anyone say Snowy Hydro?  Already grossly over budget and grossly over time.  Damn the expense and damn the impacts.  Worse here – when considering the proximity of Origin Energy’s project to the community, to residents, businesses and a historically and environmentally unique town and landscape.

However, the show still goes on.  The NSW Government’s Long Term Energy Service Agreement “showbag” regime contains the goodies that support such unviable projects.  A regime (which is ridiculously complex) that seems to make unviable projects viable at the expense of the taxpayer – guaranteeing minimum prices for electricity generated.  How much expense and subsidy?  A very good question - one to which there seems to be no answer.  Snowy Hydro started at $2 billion – but is now heading well north of $6 billion.

By Origin Energy’s own admission building a pumped hydro facility is exorbitantly expensive, complex and fraught with difficulties.  KV-POPSE argues that building it in Kangaroo Valley today is even more challenging as will be immediately obvious to those who know (or ought to know) the Valley, its environment and its unique setting.  Many others agree.  All this when Origin Energy also freely admits that in the very near future “batteries will become a cheaper option than pumped hydro at increasingly larger levels of energy storage”.

While Treasurer Matt Kean appears to continue to think that profoundly damaging Kangaroo Valley, its community and environment makes sense for a relatively small addition of up to 235 mw of storage capacity is a good idea, fortunately the Government Departments that review such projects are confounded by Origin Energy’s Environmental Impact Statement.  Many find it incomplete, inadequate and unreliable in varying respects.  TransportforNSW holds material concerns about the ability of the heavy haulage vehicles to even safely enter the Valley down its notoriously winding and steep inclines.  WaterNSW objects outright to Origin Energy’s haulage route for the 420,000 cubic meters of spoil (containing acidic rock) that will be excavated from the tunnels.  The EPA and WaterNSW also hold grave concerns for the water supplies, ground water systems, air quality and most worryingly the nearly 10 endangered and protected species that will be decimated by the project.  Many of the Agencies also point to the serious lack of attention to the broader socio-economic impacts – i.e. the damage to lives. livelihoods and businesses.  Matt Kean has refused an invitation to meet to discuss the community’s concerns and Origin Energy has similarly stated that it believes it has done enough community consultation and is focussed on pushing ahead.  The Origin Board has also ignored an invitation to meet and discuss the project.  The Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts, is also refusing to meet, hiding behind process.  Where do Labor and the Greens stand on this and the broader issue of, what is considered to amount to, Government and big business greenwashing?  This election will be telling.

The greenwashing of the community needs to be called out and stopped.  No more good money after bad.  There are better, cheaper and much more responsible options out there and which ought to stack up on their own merits and not see the Government propping up a project that will have such devastating impacts on a community and its environment – while being held as being green, sustainable and sensible.

This is the absolute view of KV-POPSE and others that are taking the fight to Origin Energy and the Government about the absurdity of this project.  An overflowing Town Hall meeting reinforced this at the beginning of February with over 120 concerned citizens showing up to strongly oppose the project and over 1,000 people having already signed up to a petition (and those numbers are growing quickly).  The plea to Origin Energy and the Government is simple.  Treat the community with respect and stop the project.  Over 170 submissions similarly detailing the absurdity of the project have also been lodged with the Government’s Department of Planning and Environment.  Yet the drums of big business and the support band of Government keep playing, ignoring the community and the well-being of taxpayers, imprudently appearing willing to hand over millions upon millions of taxpayers’ money (judging by Snowy Hydro alone). 

There must be a better way.  Time for big business and Government to listen and stop dictating to communities and taxpayers.  Or to adopt Origin Energy’s corporate mantra - time to genuinely be "there for good change”.  We all want to see Australia on a sustainable and sensible pathway and footing to a net zero future.  This project is simply not sensible nor is it suitable nor does it represent “good change” - in fact taxpayers, the community and the environment are being short changed. 

The petition is available here:  https://www.change.org/ProtectKangarooValley-Stop-the-PowerProject