Dam opposition well and truly afloat
For a community that Government sources claim is starting to accept a dam, Mary Valley residents and others were showing no sign of it when they took too the river to visibly signpost the three mark in their fight too stop the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam.
Several hundred canoeists and supporters turned out to show their energy for battle was undiminished. Image Arkin Mackay stoppress.com.au
Three years to the day since Peter Beattie’s shock announcement of plans to build the dam, several hundred canoeists and supporters turned out to a "floatilla" to show their energy for battle was undiminished. Paddlers were shown lungfish breeding sites and turtle nesting beaches before taking part in ceremony, celebrations, speeches and entertainment.
“Today we’re celebrating the resilience of our community and the wider community,” said Save the Mary River Coordinating Group President Glenda Pickersgill.
“We’re celebrating that we have dug our heels in and mounted a very strong case against damming this river.”
“Peter Beattie may have called it ‘hardly pristine’, Anna Bligh may say it’s been damaged by farming, but the real test has to be what lives in there now and with a number of unique species, this is pretty impressive. International turtle experts are even coming to regard the Mary River as ‘ the turtle river’.
The truth is that the dam presently proposed is much smaller than Peter Beattie originally envisaged. When it became apparent that it would require federal EPBC (Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act) approval, the proposal was split into two stages. This means that the yield of the proposed Stage 1 is less than a third of the original proposal while the costs have more than doubled.
“This is why Premier Bligh was so keen not to make mention of the dam at her recent election launch. The irony is that as soon as she was elected, she claimed a mandate to build it. Many in Brisbane remember her ‘delay’ announcement and think it’s on hold,” Ms Pickersgill said.
This was the third "floatilla" on the river, and was the biggest yet. After the first, in 2006, Greens Senator Bob Brown told opponents to be prepared for a long battle. When he visited the area in 2007, Roberto Epple of the European Rivers Network said to expect maybe a seven-year battle. From the looks of it, both pieces of advice have been well-heeded.
Dam opponents recently heard of a ‘milestone’ legal challenge to the Paradise Dam fishway which will be heard in the Federal Court in September. The case, mounted by the Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council and a coalition of Environment groups is significant as the Paradise fishway is intended as the model for use on Traveston Dam should it go ahead.
“We’ve already won this on the science,” says Glenda, “and it’s defeating itself on the economics. Sometime soon the penny will drop for this government and they’ll realise they can’t cry poor to nurses and teachers and public servants wanting better, fairer, conditions while they pour more money into the black hole that is the Traveston Crossing Dam proposal.”
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