Our View

February 12, 2013: Complex DA, complex issue

NO one can deny the Ceres Project Development Application (DA) is comprehensive.

In fact, it is more than 1500 pages of detailed material including maps, graphs, tables, site photographs, artist's impressions, figures, mathematical equations and more.

The application itself is in three parts containing 236 pages and supported by 23 appendices totalling 1364 pages.

It is clear a lot of research and work has gone into dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

But this level of detail isn't going to stop the wall of angst from those against the proposed project.

Reading through the DA, you get an idea of the size and scale of the project – it is massive. The transportation and construction of one turbine is a mammoth task, let alone 199.

Viewing the artist's impressions of how sections of the wind farm could look makes the project seem more of a reality.

The Heartland Farmers, Yorke Peninsula Community Group and others have also invested a lot of time, research and money into their cases, the Development Assessment Commission (DAC) cannot dismiss their points.

These people are not arguing against the Ceres Project for the sake of it – they really do passionately believe it is proposed for the wrong location.

If the state government, through the DAC, is going to approve this project it needs to give wider consideration to supporting YP as far as infrastructure and tourism.

The application admits the Ceres Project construction traffic will have impacts on local roads, including additional volumes of light and heavy vehicles over 27 months, potentially causing noise, dust and damage to road pavements.

The other major issues are property values, aerial spraying and water bombing. The DA covers these topics but doesn't provide concrete answers; it will be up to the DAC to seek this information from appropriate sources. There are six and a half weeks to make a submission to DAC – for or against, make sure your voice is heard.

Amie Brokenshire, Editor