Powerful Arguments For Heading Underground
Pressure is mounting on the Andrews Government to put powerlines and electricity transmission networks underground.
A new report on the economic and broader benefits of underground lines highlights their financial, social and environmental advantages.
The report commissioned by the Moorabool Shire Council comes as many homes remain without power in Gippsland and in the ranges east of Melbourne.
Wild storms earlier this month brought down trees and powerlines.
Power poles and electrical elements - along with out of control roadside vegetation - were also a major factor in the St Patrick Day fires in the Cobden, Camperdown, Terang and Garvoc area in 2018. Burning across more than 14,600 hectares of land, they resulted in the loss of 24 homes, 57 sheds, and the deaths of more than 10,000 livestock.
Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur told the Victorian Parliament that it doesn’t have to be this way.
“The Andrews Government appears to be learning nothing from such experiences.
“They remain committed to rolling out overhead powerlines along the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project.
“This is despite overhead powerlines clearly being a massive liability – just ask the poor residents of the Dandenong and Yarra Ranges,” Mrs McArthur said.
The WVTNP cuts a swathe through some of Victoria’s prime farmland, severs a critically important biolink and spans the Merrimu Reservoir – effectively stopping access for firefighting aircraft.
Mrs McArthur said the Moorabool report indicates underground powerlines are a “no-brainer” despite the Labor Government and energy providers pretending otherwise.
The report denounces their claims that underground lines are 10 times more expensive.
“This report has succinctly smacked this notion down, stating that the overall cost would be closer to five times the cost, which would be very easily recouped over the life of the asset.”
She said the cost of Government hardship payments, insurance bills, repairs, loss of business and even loss of life are easily compensated and avoided with underground lines.
“Specifically, the report outlines that there is little to no risk of the line inadvertently starting a bushfire when it is buried underground, there will be little to no risk of power supply interruption during said fires or severe weather, there will be minimal impact on private land or current land use and there would be little to no electromagnetic field impacts,” she said.
Mrs McArthur has asked the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, to get serious about the underground option.
“Considering recent weather events in eastern Victoria and the release of the report by the Moorabool Shire, will she guarantee that serious investigations will be made into placing lines underground?”
23 June 2021
