Friday, February 23, 2024
Nationals Member for Ovens Valley, Tim McCurdy, has once again backed the Dederang community in their fight against an intrusive Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) with an impassioned speech in Parliament, and a community petition.
Mr McCurdy said that too much uncertainty remained around the controversial BESS, with fire and environmental concerns very much at the front of mind.
“It will be imposed upon them [Dederang] – the eyesore, the health risk, and the fire hazard – for the next 20 or 30 years.
“One of the locals did a risk assessment, as you would, and he looked at the Victorian Big Battery fire in Moorabool, down in Geelong.
“The report on technical findings describes the document as a summary, but he cannot find the main document that talks about the fire.
“That surprised me as we all know about that fire that took about three or five days to put out.”
Mr McCurdy has also launched a petition alongside community representatives, citing a letter he has seen from Mint Renewables refusing to attend any community meetings.
“It is clear that they have no interest in attending or listening to a broad community meeting.
“They are sneaky, they are secretive, and they are firmly on the side of the proponent.
“They refuse meet with the Friends of the Alpine and Keiwa Valleys, as they claim to only want to meet a select few instead.
“If they are too scared to hear what the community has to say, we are not too scared to share it with the world.
“I encourage everyone to sign the petition at the Dederang General Store so that we can take it to Parliament, take it to the Minister, and take it to the Mint executives.”