Foreign giants take wind out of Tasmania’s sails
Tasmania is being taken to the cleaners, economically and ecologically, as a giant Korean company sells the St Patricks Plains wind farm project to Vesta, the global Danish wind turbine manufacturer, the Bob Brown Foundation said today. “No public debate, no government input, no local consultation: this deal, which depends on a huge toll of […]
New report finds Marinus Link would raise household power bills while failing to deliver promised benefits
A new report by Dr Bruce Mountain of the Victorian Energy Policy Centre (VEPC), released today by Bob Brown Foundation, concludes that the economic case for Marinus Link and Tasmania’s long-promoted ‘Battery of the Nation’ vision has largely collapsed. The report argues that Tasmania lacks significant surplus energy to export, mainland battery storage has overtaken […]
Marinus PR based on $30million of taxpayer-funded bribes
$30 million of taxpayer funded community grants are being funnelled through Marinus Link and the associated North West Transmission Line in a thinly veiled attempt the build social license for the beleaguered $5+ billion project. This comes a week after the Federal Budget allocated $381million to offset energy bill rises generated by the project, and […]
More budget subsidies raise questions of exactly how much is Marinus Link costing the public
After the Federal and State governments have falsely promised that Marinus Link will deliver lower electricity bills for Tasmanians, last night’s budget revealed $361 million to offset the expected increase in transmission costs to Tasmanian consumers. “They lied to us about Marinus delivering lower power bills, and now taxpayers are footing the bill to offset […]
Watt’s craven late-Friday announcement
“Australia’s anti-environment Minister for the Environment, Murray Watt, on the eve of the Anzac commemoration weekend, snuck out the death warrant for 144 of hectares of northwest Tasmania’s forests and wildlife including eagles, owls, orange-bellied parrots, swifts, Tasmanian devils and native bats. His last-half-day-in-the-week approval was for the North West Transmission Developments project, a high […]
Arrested for birdwatching
Arrested for birdwatching Rob Blakers, internationally-renowned wildlife and landscape photographer, will today appear in Burnie Magistrates Court facing charges of trespass on Pilitika / Robbins Island. Rob was birdwatching and photographing the vast birdlife threatened by a proposed wind farm with 100 212-metre-high turbines across two-thirds of the island. Rob Blakers photographed the threatened shorebirds […]
Spin over substance on Marinus – Where is the documentation Minister Watt?
Bob Brown Foundation has called on the Environment Minister Murray Watt to immediately release the approval conditions for Marinus. Minister Watt announced an approval for Marinus with “strict conditions” on Friday, and as at 11am Monday the approval and associated conditions had not been published on the EPBC portal website. The last entry related to […]
Secretive Marinus deal means higher power prices and fast-tracked environmental destruction.
The secretive Marinus deal signed by the caretaker Rockliff Government, in breach of caretaker conventions, will result in higher power prices and a fast-tracking of the energy industrialisation of northern Tasmania’s wild places. “Since 2018, experts have been telling us that Marinus was a dud for Tasmania, and not needed by the mainland, but yet […]
BBF condemns law change for destruction, calls for Robbins Island protectorate for devils
“It is outrageous that the Commonwealth is deferring to the Tasmanian government’s bid to retrospectively change the law. Tasmania’s coast is being sacrificed for a foreign developer and the federal Minister for the Environment is not taking a stand but is happy to stretch timelines to accommodate the developer and the Tasmanian government’s bid to […]
Big parties sign on to Marinus Link, selling out Tasmania and driving us deeper into energy morass
“Labor’s Dean Winter has rolled over and, after much huffing and puffing, has signed on to Liberal Premier Rockliff’s ultimatum to sign a contract to order the Marinus Link cable before any cost-benefit analysis is done and before a final investment decision is made. After saying no one should be making big financial decisions in […]
