Paling Yards Wind Farm

This project will impact the environment, (flora/fauna), pristine environment, tourist industry and property prices. These types of projects are not in a nsw renewable locations/ zones. The health impacts if wind turbines effects of humans and animals is ignored. The traffic impact costs to road upgrades will be constant. Who will remove them when they become redundant and how will they be removed and impact to the environments needs to be addressed. Biodiversity effects will be devastating. We live here because of the prace and tranquilly oberon and surrounding areas provide. Shame on you for proposing this project!!!!

I wish to lodge my objection to these wind farms at Paling Yards Oberon.
1. The high risk of fire, the chemicals given off when on fire and who is going to put them out. not to mention the no fly zone.
2.The noise generated will bounce off the hills, that regulated noise levels will sometimes be exceeded.
3.Travel on our limited roads will be a nightmare. The need for extensive roadworks, the damage to historic trees at O'Connell. What about emergency vehicles, there time to respond will be hampered, this becomes a life-or-death situation. Who pays for all the roadwork needed and who is responsible for repairs to the roads after all these extra vehicles are finished ruining our beautiful landscape.
4. The environment - Rare fauna and flora have been found on Oberon Hills
5. You are destroying "The environment to "save" the environment.
These are my objections

Please see attached letters from the students of O'Connell PS concerned about the fate of The Avenue of Trees in O'Connell should this project proceed in its current form.

The traffic management plan in the EIS is insufficient and the extensive, ongoing, deleterious inconvenience that will be caused by the blocking of Oberon Road from Bathurst to Oberon during the transportation of the wind turbine and blades, will not be able to be mitigated. Traffic congestion impacting upon access to health services, work, school and life amenities will be foisted upon the local community who not, at any point, been consulted about this deleterious impact. Without localised, intensive traffic management plans in place, the project poses a risk to livelihoods, health and employment.

I'm a resident of the Oberon Shire, I strongly object to the proposal of these gigantic wind tower installation at the Paling yards on the grounds that the manufacturing, transportation , installation and running of these towers are an environmental catastrophe .
The proposed route will require many old trees along the way to be heavily pruned ( visual eyes sore of hacked trees) or completely removed this is most unsatisfactory! Some roads will have to be widened to accommodate the heavy trucks and traffic to the area, this will impact local residents with heavy traffic through small towns.
The destruction of native flora and fauna along the way.
Once these towers are operating the visual pollution and eyesore they pose to the area
These tower's once operating will cause static electricity, a major concern for fire risk. Not to mention all the birds they will kill when operating ( how is this good for the environment)!
These towers also post a health risk to animals and humans due to the harmonics they emit when operating, this has been proven with independent studies done world wide.
These towers will also impact propery prices in the area, decreasing their value.
Once these towers are no longer viable they will be left there as the cost to remove them will be too high.
Wind towers are not the way of the future as the impact and high cost they introduce to the area, people, native flora or fauna, do not outweigh what little they produce.
Regards
Very concerned resident!

WIND TOWER PROJECTS HAVE A SHORT LIFE SPAN (25 - 30 YEARS) IN COMPARISON TO MANY ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOUCES.
FOR THIS REASON IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE DECOMMISSIONING AND REMOVAL COSTS ARE NOT BORN BY THE RATE PAYERS OR FARMERS OF THE OBERON DISTRICT.
THERE SHOULD BE A BOND REQUIRED TO COVER THE REMOVAL AND DECOMMISSIONING COSTS SO THAT THE COMMUITY CAN BE ASSURED THAT THE CURRENT MAGNIFICENT SCENIC VISTA OF THE PALING YARDS AREA NOT BE BLIGHTED WITH REDUNDANT TOWERS IN 25 YEARS TIME.

Strongly object

My wife and I have lived for several decades on a small farm in the Oberon area and often are in the Paling yards area. It seems extraordinary that renewable energy companies can use these areas to construct what appear to be large numbers and very large wind towers with what seems to be little appreciation of the natural beauty of the area and the wishes of its residences. We support the move away from fossil fuels but do not support the proposal that (i) wind farms will provide a part of the solution to alternative forms of generation and (ii) do not support this proposal the development proceeds, with traffic and road implications, visual and auditory pollution, fire risk, access roads through the area, impact on wild life and biodiversity, tourism and the long term farming community. Media coverage at the moment suggests that the government's energy plans are in serious doubt of success and wind farms are an unattractive, short term and expensive part of this. If a future government takes the step to introduce medium nuclear power plants the wind farms will not be required - then what happens to them?
We do not support the Paling Yards Wind farm project, nor do we support the Forestry Corporation proposals in the Oberon area.

PALING YARDS WIND FARM BY NO MEASURE COMPLIES WITH OBERON SHIRE COUNCIL WIND POWER GENERATION DEVELOPMENT CONTROL PLAN - 2005, WHICH WAS ENACTED AFTER LENGHY CONSULTATION WITH THE COMMUNITY AND ALL STAKEHOLDERS.
THE 2005 WIND POWER GENERATION DCP 2005 SPECIFICALLY NOTES THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMNETS:
- THERE BE MINIMAL IMPACT ON PRIME AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. PALING YARDS BEING LOCATED ON A BASALT AREA CAPABLE OF CARRYING 6 DRY SHEEP EQUIVALANT.
- THERE SHOULD BE MINIMAL IMPACT ON TOURISM AND FORESTRY.
- THERE SHOULD BE NO ADDED COSTS TO THE RATEPAYER. WITH THE SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN ROAD TRAFFIC AND INTERUPTION ALONE .
- THE WIND TOWERS SHOULD NOT BE IN AREAS OF HIGH SENIC VALUE. THE PALING YARDS AREA AND ESCARPMENT ARE SOME OF OUR MOST TREASURED SCENIC AREAS.
- THE SET BACK FROM HOUSES AND ROADS UNDER THE DCP -2005 IS 2.5 KM
- FINALLY THE DCP - 2005 REQUIRES A GUARATEE THE THE DECOMISSIONING AND REMOVAL TAKES PLACE WITH THE PAYMENT OF A BOND.
I RESPECTFULLY DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE ABOVE AND NOTE THE PALING YARD PROJECT CONTRAVENES OUR OBERON COUNCIL WIND POWER GENERATION DCP 2005.

I am a resident of Oberon and concerned for our town and its surroundings with the proposal of the wind towers at The Paling Yards. For the trucks to come from Newcastle to the yards will require a lot of disruption to the traffic. How are the trucks going to get down Mount Victoria, let alone along O’Connell Road. I would hope that no damage, pruning or chopping of the trees will be required. Surely these wind farms can be put somewhere else if the electricity is for Sydney.

I'm hearing these wind farms have too many side effects, waste of money, damages the environment, neighbours aren't being compensated, farmers will be left to clean up, increase in fires, damaged roads and takes away the beauty of the natural skyline!

I would like to once again disagree with this wind farm proposal in the strongest terms.
The topography, environment and climate make this proposal potentially very dangerous to the surrounding community members and their properties.

The proposed design is very inappropriate and demonstrates a lack of on the ground knowledge and research. We have already faced a devastating fire in March 2023 and allowing this submission to proceed only increases the risks with little or no benefit to the community.
Thank you!

I strenuously object to the Paling Yards wind farm on the grounds of the proposed removal or serious damage to the O'Connell War Memorial Avenue of Desert Ash trees . This avenue of trees is a designated war memorial and damage to it is illegal . There has been no community consultation regarding this matter.
Yours Jean Clark

I object to the project.

In particular I am totally opposed to transporting the turbine blades, towers and equipment through the O'Connell Ave, which may result in the lopping and/or cutting down of some of the War memorial Avenue of Desert Ash trees.

The O'Connell Avenue is a designated memorial to those locals who served in WW1, and so is "sacred ground".

I object to the Paling Yards Wind Farm proposal.
This is the third time this company (under various different names) has made application to host a wind farm on the Paling Yards property. This started back in approx 2005 and they eventually withdrew that proposal. They lodged another project proposal in 2010 which sat there for some 10 years and was withdrawn on the 17th August 2020. Enough is enough, how many times do we have to endure this torture ?
This company has not consulted in the past with the residents in the neigbouring communities, not has it this time. I have not received a letter or pamphlet from the company, yet I am only several kms away as the bird flies.
When I purchased my property in 1994, I purchased it as it is a rural location surrounded by wildlife and bush land. It was never zoned INDUSTRIAL and nor should it be.
A wind farm is nothing but an industrial eyesore, making loud sounds and visually disgusting.
The Paling Yards location is totally unsuitable for a wind farm. It is a small parcel of land surrounded on all sides by inaccessible National Park bush land. This bush land extends all the way to the Sydney basin. It is the same bush land that was ablaze a few years back with the fire know as the Green Wattle Creek fire. It burnt some 141,000 hectares and could not be extinguished. Arial craft were the only method of fighting the fire during daylight hours. The entire area around the Paling Yards site is rough and inaccessible bush land. The risk of a fire starting during the construction and operational phases are great. Whilst the proponent will tell you the turbines have misting ability, that will not stop fires starting from the transmission lines or the many trades people driving through the site and using tools such as grinders and the like when on site. Bird life have started many fires by landing on the high voltage transmission lines and then dropping to the ground already alight. Wind farms increase the risk of a fire substantially. There have been many incidents here in Australia where fires have started on wind farms. The Paling Yards location is totally unsuitable for a wind farm. Apart from destroying corridors for the native fauna, the risk of a fire is too great. There is no ability to fight the fire on land once it spreads outside the property. Approving this project will put the localities of Curraweela, Taralga, Bannaby, Southern Highlands right through to the greater Sydney basin at extreme risk of fire. If a fire starts on this property and spreads, the blood will be on the hands of the approving body.

The impact on the O'Connell village's trees along O'Connell Road is unacceptable. These trees have historical significance and any intentional damage will not be tolerated. To be clear, any trimming or removal of any of these trees is intentional damage. Why should our environment be damaged for transportation of turbine blades? Find another way or see our community turn even further away from potential cooperation with the wind farm projects proposed in our area. For the applicant to even consider destroying our trees is inconceivable, and clearly they are driven only by profit not the wellbeing of the community they propose to operate in. I firmly oppose the planned transport route through O'Connell.

It's unbelievable that this is even a consideration given the significance of the trees along the avenue in O'Connell.
In addition this will be extremely disruptive to small towns and the road works required for the entire journey create chaos.
Please reconsider this project based on the environmental and social impacts to the community.

I object to this project because I don’t believe destruction of the environment is the best way to save it, the government must remember they are representing the people not dictating to them.

We Object Strongly to the Paling Yards Wind Farm Project.
Wind Farms are NOT Green energy!! This Wind Farm will have my road closed bringing in Turbine blades for the next 15 years twice a week at least. These blades will be polluting my beautiful environment when worn out because they will be dumped somewhere nearby. The massive infrastructure required in ripping up forest and other areas to accommodate is not environmentally friendly to support these dumb energy makers. The Turbine Blades and steel to make these inefficient electricity producers are all enriching China and India with our hard earned tax payer dollars. Australia gets nothing from these towers at the end of just 15 years and billions spent!! This beautiful region will be stuck with these eyesores forever even after they finish killing birds in such a short time as well.
Our politicians need to wake up! Keep coal and gas going and go Nuclear- the only true green energy makers!!!

• We run a wedding business that brings employment and income to Oberon.
• We believe building a large wind farm will have a serious impact on the general amenity of the Oberon area, particularly visual, noise and traffic amenity.
• The construction process will be damaging to the environment and natural beauty of Oberon
• The final wind farm will be especially damaging to the environment and natural beauty of Oberon.
• We are very concerned this will impact our wedding business and our numerous employees and their young families.
• We are very concerned about the reduction in tourism in the area and the overall attractiveness of Oberon as a lifestyle and wedding destination within proximity to Sydney.