Parliamentary petition against waste-to-energy Veolia incinerator in Tarago gains traction

A parliamentary petition that against an incinerator being built in the Southern Tablelands has already gained more than 1000 signatures.

A parliamentary petition that started a few weeks ago against an incinerator being built in the Southern Tablelands has already gained more than 1000 signatures.

The petition is the most recent call to action against a proposal for a $600 million waste-to-energy incinerator in the small rural town of Tarago, by environmental solutions company Veolia.

Co-organiser of the petition, Rod Thiele, is a public servant in Canberra, and moved to Tarago with his wife several years ago.

Rod Thiele, the co-creator of the petition as well as one of the admins of a Facebook group called ‘Communities against the Tarago incinerator’

He, along with the community of Tarago, Goulburn Mulwaree Council, Yass Valley Council and surrounds, are calling for the ban of waste-to-energy incinerator facilities within the Goulburn-Mulwaree and Southern Tablelands Region.

“What we are all united on is that we want a clean environment,” Mr Thiele said.

Opposition to the proposal in Tarago also recently reached the Australian Senate, with Senator Deborah O‘Neill making a speech against the project.

The proposal by Veolia has been made possible by a new NSW Government policy endorsed in September, regarding Waste to Energy facilities in this state.

Under the policy, projects can only proceed in heavy industrial zoned land in four regional precincts in NSW, including the Southern Goulburn-Mulwaree Precinct.

“We want to demonstrate that these communities don’t need or want this kind of development,” Mr Thiele said.

As mentioned in the petition, a review of the health impacts of waste incineration was referenced in the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer’s report to the Minister for the Environment in November 2020, which concluded “there is insufficient evidence to conclude that any incinerator is safe”.

The report went further to say “new incinerators should be located away from areas of food production” and “food grown near an incinerator should be avoided.”

“We don’t want the health risk, we don’t want the impact to the environment, or existing businesses and economies like agriculture that surrounds it,” Mr Thiele said.

“The cumulative effect is just way too great and way too much to swallow.”

The new government policy aims to provide region’s with opportunity for jobs and growth, however Mr Thiele says its not the type of opportunity the community would like.

“What the EPA (Environment Protection Authority) says is a health risk for Sydney is now somehow an economic opportunity for regional New South Wales?” Mr Thiele said.

“(The incinerator) may destroy jobs on neighbouring farms or tourism opportunities and even just jobs in further development of the town, because who wants to come and live under the emissions of a waste incinerator?”

If approved, the facility would be capable of burning 710,000 tonnes of waste from Sydney each year, and be a potential health risk to locals and neighbouring communities.

An aerial image of the Woodlawn Eco-Precinct, where the proposed waste-to-energy incinerator will be, also known as an Advanced Energy Recovery Centre (ARC) by Veolia.

“The emissions from this facility doesn’t respect geographic boundaries,” Mr Thiele said.

“It will impact across the board, because the wind can send it as far as the ACT itself.

“We don‘t think this should be in anyone’s backyard.”

When asked if the community wants an alternative, Mr Thiele pointed to Veolia’s track record in Tarago at their current waste-to-energy facility, Woodlawn Eco Precinct, which has received odour complaints, leading to the company being fined by the NSW EPA.

“We don’t want another alternative to this, we just want them to maintain their existing development that is in place, which in and of itself provides some renewable energy,” Mr Thiele said.

“We want them to continue with the seemingly good technology and invest in doing that properly by removing the impacts that they’re already having which led to breaches of their existing licence, rather than investing millions of dollars into something that will just create even more impact on the community.”

Mr Thiele is pleased with the petition so far, which has generated more than 1000 signatures in a couple of weeks, and is hoping it leads to change.

Once the petition closes in mid February, member for Goulburn Wendy Tuckerman has agreed to present it to parliament.

A meeting in November where Wendy Tuckerman expressed support for the community of Tarago and surrounds, and joined them in holding up signs in opposition of the Veolia energy-from-waste incinerator. Picture: Niki Iliagoueva

“We expect by the time it closes in February, it’ll probably be around the time when the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) will be on public exhibition,” Mr Thiele said.

In response to the petition, a spokesperson for Veolia has said: “We are in the process of conducting independent assessments to demonstrate how the ARC will meet the health, environmental, and operational standards set by the government – which will be the highest standards in the world – and that there will be no unsafe impact on local communities.

“This will be demonstrated during the Environmental Impact Assessment process, and then the government will decide if the ARC has the merits needed to go ahead.”