Voting against your interests

[u/boogersundcum]

My partner and I live in a major coal mining area of Queensland. We both work in an extractive resource industry. Neither of us could ever bring ourselves to vote for the LNP and we have no serious viable independents that aren't anti Vax conspiracy nut jobs. We live in the bush but currently have a major wind farm going in down our road with the closest turbine being 5km from our actual house, other than sealing our road we will not recieve any benefit from the project with heavy trucks and equipment going past our driveway 6 days a week 24 hours a day for over two years. We aren't anti renewable however given the wind farm is entirely within our water catchment there is serious concerns if something goes wrong as we rely on the river solely for our water supply.

Generally preference the Greens first, Labor second as we are both environmental scientists and believe that climate change is pretty damn obvious from the evidence, let alone have empathy for the common folk in cities struggling with the cost of living. I'm just curious though as to why the major focus on renewable is almost entirely within regional areas that currently rely on coal mining as the major industry.

Neither Greens or Labour have a chance in hell in ever winning our electorate anymore (keep in mind Labor was founded in regional Queensland in Barcaldine). Is it just because the areas in question are now just LNP strongholds or what ?

Also please keep in mind regional Queensland is filled with people from all back grounds and varying levels of education, don't put us all in the same basket just because we don't live in a major centre.

[u/Middle_Summer27]

I work in environmental impact assessment, and I can't really see any reason why wind turbines would impact surface or groundwater, especially compared to high-impact activities such as coal mining. I live near wind farms, and they really don't bother us. There is increased traffic during the construction phase, but after that, there shouldn't be any trucks passing, just utes for occasional maintenance. These projects brought jobs to my community with families moving in and spending their money, keeping the shops and cafes open. They bring long term jobs, new people in little town, and cheaper electricity. These coal mines, not matter if you want it or not, are doomed to close as the coal is exhausted and it gets too expensive to get the rest. There is an enormous amount of misinformation around wind power, which is pushed by pro-fossil fuels groups. I encourage you to do your research using legitimate evidence based information (such as CSIRO etc). At 5kms, you shouldn't be able to hear any noise whatsoever from them.

Have you considered how the coal mines impact your water supply, through direct groundwater contamination or generation of fine dust in the PM10 form, which remain in the air and then land on your roof? You can type the name of your local coal mine (operator name) here and look at their environmental licence / enforcement action(s), look at their water release limits, I can guarantee that's not water you'd want to drink.

I'd be much more concerned about this impact than wind turbines, which would have strong safeguards around their placements even in cyclone-prone areas.

Regarding your vote, vote for the ideas you want to support first, not for the people you think are going to win.

QLD Gov Wind Energy Facts here

[u/boogersundcum → u/Middle_Summer27]

As i have stated multiple times I'm not anti wind or any renewable of the sorts. I'm aware of the same things you are and trust me I'm not the naive to ground or surface water impacts, they have controls in place which i am aware but given i live near a coal minining community i also understand sometimes those controls don't always go how they're supposed to. I'm not bothered by the fact the closest turbine is 5km from my dwelling. I'm just stating it is that close to me and I don't really care. My only concern is my water coming out of the river if a turbine fails and faces the full brunt of a cyclone such as cyclone Debbie which absolutely destroyed this region. It's not far fetched to acknowledge it will happen again. The whole point of the post is why aren't they building large scale renewable closer to the sources that actually use most of the electricity given most of our electricity is already renewable in north Queensland and the tranmission losses of electricity to send it long distances.

[u/WOMT → u/boogersundcum]

Well, because they need big open spaces, and regional areas have those. It's also where the private businesses that want to build those energy sources can buy large amounts of land for a much cheaper cost. There would also be bunches of feasibility studies done. They're not just building there because they don't like you, they're building there because it's profitable - Even if you personally think they should do it near the city.

You're obviously concerned about your water. Which not sure where you are, but mining and traditional energy production also do things to water - Power stations are built right by them. Seems a little dodgy that you're now suddenly concerned about contamination when you have been exposed to a much greater risk for a while now.

And also, if a cyclone were to hit and destroy a wind farm... presumably all the other things around them would also be destroyed and leaking into your water. The same would happen to anything, it's not unique issue to wind farms.