Questions form over Qld Hydro’s Borumba pumped hydro project
Mary Valley residents with mixed feelings and lingering memories of the disastrous Traveston Crossing dam ask what legacy the $14.2bn pumped hydro project will leave for their region.
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From trust to mistrust, cautious optimism to downright pessimism, the people of Imbil and the Mary Valley are learning more about the next phase of the massive $14.2bn Borumba pumped hydro project and what it means to the area.
Only 15 minutes from Lake Borumba, the site of the planned pumped hydro powerhouse, Imbil and its surrounds are bracing for the project’s construction, with a mixture of hesitation and excitement.
The building of a second reservoir, a higher dam wall, underground tunnels and a power station, along with the associated transmission lines, means residents and businesses will feel the effects of the energy transformation years before even one of the two million homes it will power turns on a light.
Qld Hydro, the government company managing the Borumba project, held a community drop-in session at Imbil Memorial Hall on Tuesday afternoon, July 18.
It was the second of a series of community sessions held across Gympie, South Burnett and Sunshine Coast in the coming week.
On hand were at least nine Qld Hydro communications and engineering professionals ready to answer the question of almost 40 people who came to browse the posters and models explaining the project.
The drop-in session coincided with the first day of Qld Hydro’s geotechnical investigations of the soil and groundwater conditions of the area to aid in its future environmental assessments.
The burning question was whether the project, still subject to those environmental approvals, would wreak havoc on the region or leave it a better place?
Rod and Cherry McPherson live adjacent to the dam, and have been working with Qld Hydro on borehole drilling around sheds on their property; they said pumped hydro was “the best thing since sliced bread”.
Despite their enthusiasm for the technology, they have concerns about how the project will be managed.
“I think the legacy they can give us is around the recreational facilities they leave behind; the dam is a very popular area,” Mr McPherson said.
They are concerned about the “diabolical” roads in the area too.
Both of this issues are on the radar for Qld Hydro, and CEO Kieran Cusack said they were committed to providing local benefits such as upgrading the lake’s recreational facilities.
“Qld Hydro has been engaging with Gympie Regional Council and Transport and Main Roads around road upgrades,” he said.
Mary Valley councillor, Bob Fredman, is in the “hope phase” of more benefits coming to its “ground zero”.
“I’m particularly hopeful that we get compensated for what we face in terms of traffic,” Mr Fredman said.
“There’s a whole lot of things they can do for the Mary Valley area if they wanted, such as upgrades to the Mary Valley Rail Trail and Imbil’s Heritage Park.”
The region should not have to deal with the energy needs of the city, Kandanga farmers and business owners Leslie and Craig Hanson said.
“This power is being made to be generated to feed down to Brisbane. Why should farmers be put out?” Mrs Hanson said.
Along with questioning the engineering, she said it was a waste of money, the $14.2 billion could be “put to helping people”.
Noosa small business owner Deane Dionysius was there for practical economical opportunities.
“It’s got to help out the local communities whether it’s a tradie coming in to get a pie for lunch,” he said.
Deep seated mistrust against state government ideas for dam infrastructure linger in the region, after the long and distressing campaign to stop the ill-fated Traveston Crossing Dam.
“The community consultation process is a joke because it’s just crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s for Qld Hydro and Powerlink,” Bronwyn Kirkegard said.
She lives a few kilometres north of the dam and remembers the last fight.
She said the challenge was “formidable” with her distrust in government delivering the project, but her understanding the need for energy.
“I think it's a good thing, it’s a clean green energy source and it’s got to come from somewhere.”
Government mistrust led Kabi man Wit-boooka, an indigenous activist who camped out and opposed the construction of TMR’s Gympie Bypass over Rocky Ridge to turn up in front of the hall with signs in opposition to the dam.
He questioned both the legitimacy and sovereignty of the government and claimed it was against his “religious and spiritual beliefs” to bring such destruction to the country.
Building of a higher dam wall will mean an expanded lower reservoir, which would flood state-owned floodplains and forested areas currently used for cattle agistment, a Qld Hydro spokesperson said.
Imbil resident and geographer Ian Stehbens said the flooding would draw water higher up into the valley and have knock-on benefits for the ecosystem, as well as mitigating and managing the fires that often sweep through the area.
This year’s state budget committed $6bn in funding to the project and although only announced last month, it is on full steam ahead, subject to environmental approvals.
Despite the tension of opinions and thoughts, the briefing remained peaceful.
“That it’s in my backyard, it sucks, but it’s got to be in someone’s backyard,” Mrs Kirkegard said as she left.
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