Executive Director
I've been living, eating and breathing issues linking dams, energy, water, climate, human rights and development since the late 1980s. When I'm not being an Executive Director I play lego and trains with my son, hike, bike (motor and pedal-powered), tend cacti, laugh and groan at Stewart & Colbert, read history or Latin American or Irish literature, cheer on Arsenal Football Club, and listen to tango or Irish trad or bluegrass or blues or whatever else takes my fancy.
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Hail Mary! Aussie Activists Celebrate Dam Suspension
Thu, 11/27/2008 - 2:55pm
Mary River Information Center, Kadanga, Queensland (Patrick McCully/International Rivers) Proponents claim the dam is needed to increase water storage because of the worsening droughts caused by global warming. Opponents point to studies showing numerous cheaper alternatives for saving and storing water, and the high evaporation and greenhouse gas emissions from the big, shallow reservoir. An email to supporters from the Save the Mary River campaign group says: November 25th, 2008, is a day that will always be remembered in the Mary Valley as the first serious cracks started to show in the state government's push to build Traveston Dam. Anna Bligh's shock announcement that the plan would be shelved for a number of years because of environmental & economic concerns was met with jubilance as hard working campaigners flocked to the banks of the Mary River to celebrate. Whilst enjoying this major victory, campaigners were very clear that they know the fight's not over yet. They vowed to increase the pressure on the state & federal government's until this dam proposal is dead & buried forever! Within hours of the announcement, the riverbanks at Traveston Crossing were filled with people and media... Check out the new album on www.stoppress.com.au called 'Backdown or Backoff?' and share the joy of the Save the Mary campaign! I visited the beautiful Mary valley in September 2007 together with Roberto Epple of European Rivers Network. I was amazed at the strength of opposition to the dam, which from the bumper sticks and signs along the roadsides appeared to be almost unanimous in local communities. I was also astonished at the callous and autocratic attitude of the state government which seemed determined to trample on the rights of local people. And deeply impressed at the determination, energy, creativity - and bloody good humor - of the local activists. Congratulations to Glenda, Steve, Kevin, Arkin and all the rest of the Mary lovers. As the campaign slogan says, "In Cod We Trust!" The Mary River announcement comes on a good Thanksgiving week for river lovers with the annoucement of a funding setback for the misleadingly cheerfully named Xalala Dam in Guatemala, and a legal roadblock for the Jirau Dam on the Maderia River in Brazil. We covered the Traveston Crossing Dam fight in our newsletter World Rivers Review in October 2006.
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Comments
Still pushing to have this proposal stopped
Thanks for the support.
The most heartening development has been that the Federal Environment Department has since published a series of independent reports which are highly critical of the project and the environmental impact statement produced by the proponent (the Queensland Government). Following this the federal senate has passed a motion calling on the State of Queensland to stop the project altogether. This motion has no hold on the state government under the Australian federal system - but is highly embarrassing to the State Government nonetheless.
This is extraordinary in Australian politics, considering the Queensland Government and the the federal government are both Labor party governments. There is a state election coming up soon, and water issues will play a major part. This is ironic, because it seems that the major problem that SEQ will be facing for a while is too much water, and no demand for the large amount of recycled and desalinated water which will come on line from Veolia's big projects in SEQ by the end of this year.
For those people interested in the fate of Mary's aquatic biodiversity - have a read of the latest description of how Australia's environmental laws relate to this proposal - en excellent summary produce by the Federal Government.
http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/notices/assessments/2006/3150/index.html
Steve Burgess
"democracy is the worst form of government - apart from all the other ones"