MOD 1 - Turbine and infrastructure changes

I object to the Liverpool Range (LR) wind farm modification project for several reasons.

There is a substantial overlap between the LR wind farm project footprint and the Tier 2 habitat preservation area for the Regent Honeyeater, as mapped by the Local Lands Service. The developer has stated that 427 ha of critically endangered box gum woodland - Regent Honeyeater habitat - is to be removed. The LR wind farm plans 220 giant 250m high turbines, this will additionally create a hostile environment for this critically endangered bird. The damage this project will do to critically endangered flora and fauna is so extensive that the Department of Planning should reconsider whether this project is responsible at anywhere its planned size.

The 250 m high turbines are 52% higher than previously planned. Such a heavy revision surely means that the LR project must be considered a new project so that the full implications of such a giant development can be properly considered. This will also provide the opportunity to assess the cumulative impacts of the LR and the Valley of the Winds projects so that all of the adverse effects on the Coolah district will be carefully studied.

There is also the serious question of how aerial fire fighting can be effectively undertaken if the LR wind farm is built. With 220 towers at 250 m high, large fire fighting aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules would have to fly substantially higher in order to be clear of the turbine blades, especially with smoke reduced visibility. The accuracy required to drop water along the fire fronts will be badly affected, and could result in adverse outcomes for people, property and the community.

Environmental impact on larger towers...
Degradation to landscape, erosion (because primary black soil) and including extra material/reinforcement need to accommodate larger structures..
IMPORTANT WILDLIFE CORRIDOR DISTRUBANCE/IMPACT TO ENDANGERED SPIECES...
HISTORICAL SIGNAFICANCE TO FIRST NATION PEOPLE AS MIGRATIONARY PATH and Early settlers as this was a very prosperous valley's and ranges in local areas of Cassilis and Coolah.
To the community....Decrease in TOURISM DOLLARS, LONG TERM EMPLOYEMENT, NOISE POLLUTION AND LANDSCAPE INTRUSIONS which are overall very critical to a small town prosperity....
Nature disaster BIG IMPACTS of the implication to Bush fire protection plans for Host and neighbouring landholders.
Environment impact to future generation once towers are decommissioned... Soil biodiversity - chemical impact long term and toxicity.
Green house emission on AUSTRALIA and the WORLD in building of the towers and implication of decommission as towers are not recyclable.
Issue with Foreign ownership of these companies and subsidies/pay backs given to these companies from the government from tax payers dollars.
I reserve the right to add to this objection at a later date...

Please see attached my submission contending that this is a new project, not a modification.

Hi there ,
Further to our earlier objection I further object to the scale and size of the proposed towers .
These will be a terrible eyesore and create an industrial zone In our wonderful farming district
The visual impact is huge along with fly zones being eliminated are just the beginning when it comes to objecting .
We remain totally opposed to all clusters and feel the Liverpool range project is enough for our region .
Kind Regards
Jason Veale

With regard the existing VPA between councils and the developer
The application for the modification will result in a increase in the generating capacity of 358 MW or 37% and a decrease of 47 turbines. This directly impacts the value of the VPA to the community. The original agreement was $3000 per turbine for the proposed 267 turbines resulting in a $801,000 community fund. The modification will result in 220 turbines at $3000/ turbine giving $660,000 resulting in a reduced VPA of $141,000 per year decline in its value.
Therefore I would suggest there should a comensuratie 37% increase in the VPA not a decrease.,particularly given the huge increase in the size of the turbines and their visual impact.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment

As 20 year old male and young resident of Coolah I'm disappointed in the decision of wind turbine placements within the surrounding environment of coolah. There has been no consultation towards the younger population of coolah as in regards to the wind farm. From what I've gathered many of the residents haven't had a say in the matter or have classified themselves neutral to the idea. My biggest concerns is what it will contribute to our community as a whole, I do not believe it will bring local jobs as most large construction work is carried out by major contractors already organised in the pre-development stage. To support this claim, when the solar farm project was being constructed outside of Gulgong in the recent years, they mentioned similar contributions and benefits to what Tilt Renewables are saying now. I personally had friends who were employed during the project as labourers and plant operators and were promised secure stable work, however nearing the completion of the project my friends were made redundant as the need for work decreased. This left my friends in dire financial situations at the time.

Another issue is the damage to local infrastructure as in the roads. I personally work in road construction and do not have any views of this work being positive. I understand that the majority of wind turbine parts and equipment is transported by roads on trucks. Many of our roads were built decades ago and are not to the standard of today's roads. The coolah valley and surrounding areas was in severe drought for many years resulting in the contractions and cracking of roadways and soils. Now recently there has been continuous rainfall resulting in raised water table and mass amount of moisture ingress in to the road ways and drainage systems. I have seen many roads incluuding our main roads linking the isolated township of coolah to the many major settlements in the distance, fail under these conditions. Our roads are simply not to the task of handling such immense weight and wide loads associated with construction projects of this scale. Our roads are bad enough as it is and the local council is struggling to maintain and repair roads now. Without proper consultation, discussion and compensation to the local population and Warunbungle Shire, I fail to understand and see how Tilt Renewables will possibly construct something of this scale without the supporting infrastructure.

One major concern I hear often and can argue for is the environmental damage to not only our local environment but the environment in general. Wind turbine props are typically constructed from a combination of a balsa wood frame and fibreglass resulting in a by-product that is extremely difficult to recycle, leading to the props being removed and buried in landfill. Will the mountain sides and surrounding valley become a dumping ground for the props or will they be transported to another facility/community to face the same consequence? Wind turbine farms have been observed to fail, become a light and cause multitude of issues such as pollution, devastating fire damage to surround environment and community's

This project will only benefit the local community in the short term. Long term benifits are not fruitful enough to justify the means

These turbines will wreck the beauty of this amazing area. We are 6.4Km away from the closest turbine and the case study on our property have concluded there will be no visual or noise impact to our property and no financial assistance available . We believe this is untrue and can’t believe they think we will not be impacted by these enormous eye sores, let alone the noise they may produce

I support the wind farm project

I support this project

We object to the Liverpool Range Wind Farm external Transmission Line corridor as described in the MOD-1 application. For full submission see attached. We do not object to the development of a wind farm in this area.

I object to the Liverpool Range (LR) wind farm because the footprint of over 50,000 ha is far too large, 220 Turbines are way too many, and the turbines being 250m high are simply too big.
The Center Point tower in Sydney is hardly much bigger! This will bring a huge industrial presence to a beautiful native landscape. To many others and myself, is an absolute travesty, this infrastructure will occupy a larger footprint with more high rise towers (turbines and transmission towers) than the CBD of Perth and Darwin!
The countryside does not want or need this. This is going to leave our beautiful Australian countryside covered in cement, wires and steel, if it goes ahead unchecked.
This project has provided the numbers on paper but fails to provide easily accessed visual/graphical representation of the end result. I suspect this is deliberate because people would then be able to see the irreversible industrial scars that would stain the landscape. The beautiful natural landscapes will be changed beyond recognition should this modification/development go ahead.

The increase in height of the turbines from 165m to 250m amounts to more than a 50% increase. This project must now be considered a new project, so that the cumulative impacts arising from both the LR and Valley of the Winds projects have to be assessed by the developers together.
The approach of assessing each of these two huge back-to-back developments in 'silos' is absurd. From an environmental, visual and community viewpoint these projects are effectively appearing and impacting as one monstrous development.

I object to the Liverpool Range modification project for several reasons.

220 turbines that are now planned to be 250m high is simply too much for a rural community such as Coolah. The natural landscapes will be overwhelmed, and the district will become a sprawling industrial zone of towers and transmission lines.

The size increase of the turbines from 165m to 250m is so large that this surely should be considered a new project. From a community point of view, multiple wind farm projects will have enormous detrimental effects on everyone, and so each project must be made to consider the cumulative effects of all the projects combined.

The deadly effects on birds and bats, the removal of critically endangered box-gum woodland, the awful visual change to the rural countryside, and restriction of future aerial fire fighting are but a few of the terrible effects of the Liverpool Range wind farm will have on our district.

The total number of giant 250m high turbines planned for our district is over 370. This is simply too many for any rural district to cope with. The massive scale of the Liverpool Range wind farm must at the very least be dramatically scaled back to a reasonable level, or even better scrapped altogether.

I am making an objection to the Liverpool Range Wind Farm managed by TILT.
My objections points are as follows.
Raising of the height of the turbines from 165m to 250m
Re-sited some turbines outside the previously apporved developement corridor.
Increased the footprint of the whole developement.
Increased the impace on native vegetation by 1249ha.
Increased the clearing around each turbine.
Incerased amount of land clearing for roads, cabling and trasmission lines and towers.
Increased the number of concrete batching plants,'Ingnored the impact on the nearby Coolah Tops National Park
Increased the amount of native flora to be removed, including 427ha of the critically endangered ecological community box gum grassy woodland and habitat of the at risk Regent Honeyeater.
Vegetation removal incluides habitat for seven NSW listed species (two pland, one mammal ,one bird)
At high risk from the development are the Barking Owl, Large Bent Winged Bat, Powerful Owl, Swift Parrot, White Throated Needletail. Not to mention the native ground animals that might be living in the places where these enormous concrete pads and roads are suggested to be built and laid.
At medium risk are the Black Chinned Honeyeater, Corben's Long Eard Bat, Dusky Woodswallow, Painted Honeyeater, Suberb Parrot, Wedge Tailed Eagle, Little Eagle, Eastern Cave Bat , Yellow Bellied Sheathtalil Bat, Large Eared Pied Bat.
Ingnored the impact to light aviation activites ( (concreteing on standard commercial flith paths), and aerial fire fighting (which was used in the area in 2017's Sir Ivan Fire) and the concerns raised by National Parks about visibility in fire situations and areial fire fighting at night.
Dont want turbine lighting because it will be a nuisance to neighbours and may affect the Dark Sky Park, but is also potentially deadly to aviators.
Increased visual impact with the higher turbines, impacting more non-associated residences (non associated = those who haven't signed with the developer either as hosts or under neighbour agreements.)
Increased non-associated dwellings experiencing shadow flicker.
Increased traffic around 300 plus vehicle movements per day (one way), so 600 plus on local roads over the approximate 3 year construction period.
Increase in operational noise levels as several non-associated residences
Ingnored the cumulative effect that may occur with the combined wind farms of 370 turbines 250m tall placed on ridges all around the township of Coolah (5-6km from both projects) on wildlife, visual amenity, noise, EMI and property values which will also impact the viallages of Uarbry, Leadville and the town of Cassilis .
Increase the micrositing (developer allowed to move the turbines without oversight/apporval) from 100 to 250m.

I object to the modification application of the Liverpool Range wind farm SSD-6696-Mod-1. Please see the attached.

See attachments

Please see attachment

Please see attachment

Please find objection attached.

Please refer to attached letter

See file attached.