We previously wrote about the damage the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project will cause to the sensitive environment of the Snowy Mountains National Park. The EIS in relation to another aspect of the project has been released covering the transmission of power to the electricity grid.

Snowy Hydro has chosen the cheapest and most environmentally destructive option by proposing overhead transmission lines. The impacts of overhead transmission will include:

• permanent disturbance to wildlife habitat by clearing 100 ha (8 km of clearing up to 200 m wide) of national park under the path of the powerlines
• ongoing cost and disturbance when the land clearing has to be renewed
• loss of native fauna including threatened species such as the Yellow-bellied Glider, Eastern Pygmy-possum, Squirrel Glider, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Powerful Owl, Masked Owl and Booroolong Frog
• land disturbance including erosion and weed infestation
• the lines will be visible over a vast area, totally destroying the ambience and habitat integrity of this remote and largely pristine region

These are irreplaceable ecosystems in the middle of Kosciuszko National Park, they will not recover, and they cannot be offset, these are natural areas set aside for conservation and future generations, not for development.

These powerlines should be put underground.

Click here for more details from the National Parks Association about why Snowy 2.0 doesn’t stack up.

Please write to the Environment Minister Matt Kean and Planning Minister Rob Stokes to express your views.

Photomontage at top of page by Transgrid, Lobs Hole, Kosciuszko National Park