| TRANSGRID IS STILL AT IT! | |
4 June 2001
The monumentally disastrous clearing beneath powerlines in Kosciuszko National Park and surrounding areas is still continuing today.
National Parks Association of NSW was contacted by a Tumut resident this afternoon. Along with other residents, they saw fresh clearing being carried out beneath Transgrid powerlines west of Kosciuszko National Park, in Bago State Forest between Talbingo and Batlow at 3pm today.
"We want the Premier to call a halt to this madness", said Andrew Cox, Executive Officer of National Parks Association of NSW.
"After the outrage and severe environmental damage caused by bulldozers scaping a swathe of soil and vegetation from beneath powerlines in April and May, you would have thought Transgrid would have got the message."
"I am stunned and outraged that the clearing is still occurring."
After contacting State Forest’s Tumut Office, I was assured that it was only rehabilitation works on an 11km section already cleared.
"However the Tumut resident insisted that it was new clearing. As they watched from the road, live trees were being knocked down and put into heaps on the edge of the powerline corridor. The power line corridor was being widened and vegetation scaped back to bare earth. This occurred near Talbingo Dam and the Hume and Hovell Walking Track. See www.treestumut.homestead.com for photos taken of the clearing this afternoon.
"It is steep country, and where it was being cleared, the slope was estimated to be at least 20%."
"There is no option available now except for the Premier to order a high level independent inquiry."
"We still don’t know:
"If the powerlines cannot pass through significant natural areas without major environmental impacts, then they should be removed."
Contact: Andrew Cox 9299 0000 or 0438 588 040