Parkes Shire Mayor Neil Westcott has penned a letter to the community following widespread concern over a proposed Energy from Waste facility for Parkes.
The project was officially launched on 24 March after its developers were appointed and proposes to convert Sydney's rubbish into electricity, heat and steam.
The following letter was published on Cr Westcott's Facebook page on Sunday night and features below:
With so much interest in the Waste To Energy proposal that was launched last Monday (24 March) by state government and with the strong opinions being expressed, I feel it is appropriate that you know where I stand on this personally, and why as Mayor, I have not come out for, or against, from the outset.
Most would understand this is not a Council project, it is state-led, on state-acquired land - nor will we have the final say in two years’ time after it has gone through all the permits required by the EPA and bureaucratic agencies, that’s the role of state government.
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This doesn’t mean we don’t have influence, and it is right that our community asks questions.
By doing this I realise I open myself up to comments but that’s ok, I will try to reply to respectful engagement.
As an opening comment I would just like to say that any success I can claim in my life outside of my own personal faith comes from two things: opportunity and surrounding yourself with good people.
Both are apt in this situation and hopefully helps explain my current mindset on this proposal.
Clearly the current situation is new territory for Parkes Shire Council and we are trying to get our heads around the sheer enormity of this project.
We have known this has been a core project for the Special Activation Precinct (SAP) for a couple of years, however the Council has only been a few days in front of the official media releases being published.
During this time our message has always been the same – we are non-negotiable on human health and environmental health. That hasn’t changed and won’t.
The likes of myself and other council representatives are not the experts you need generating the answers for your questions, but we are here (as your voted representatives) to hear your feedback and be your voice.
The Deputy Mayor and I visited the Minister for Energy (Penny Sharp) in Sydney on Friday and, among other things, we have asked (and been successful) in getting an extension on the EPA submission period to well after the community consultation meetings occur.
So, good people and opportunity are why I haven’t come out strongly against this.
The first reason is easy. I am continually in awe of the character and knowledge that exists within the walls of Parkes Shire Council, both my fellow councillors and staff.
We should all be proud and thankful to have them representing and working for us, and I value their integrity and trust their opinion on offer at any time.
Our Council and councillors live (with their families) in our shire, and many have been here for generations so they too will have opinions and have a vested interest in the industries that come to our shire.
Is this an opportunity for Parkes Shire? As I said earlier, there is no opportunity here if human health or environment is compromised.
If toxic plumes or cancer clusters are possible, if there is residual contamination, or if there isn’t real time monitoring of emissions, then it is a ‘NO’ from me and Parkes Shire Council.
That is my promise to you.
We have always prided ourselves on being a Council that actively seeks to involve our community in the major decisions that happen in our shire.
This is why we need to give our community the opportunity to investigate, ask the hard questions and come to their own conclusions.
Councillors are your voted voice and we are listening to you.
We need to consider that this is new technology and even comparing plants built a just decade ago will be different to this proposal and given the ever-tightening minimum residue standards (now the strictest in the world), I don’t feel it’s fair to give a knee-jerk reaction without all the facts at hand.
Two similar plants are being commissioned in Perth as we speak, and this will enable us to learn a lot from those facilities as they begin operation.
Which brings us to opportunity.
If we can be satisfied that human health and environment is in no way threatened by this plant, then we can allow ourselves the luxury to think what this would mean for our shire and the future of our community and generations to come.
A $1,500,000,000 capital investment is an enormous injection into the business community in the region.
It is more than the bypass, SAP, initial Parkes to Narromine Inland Rail, Parkes water storage and recycle works combined.
More than that, the behind-the-meter power will attract partner businesses to the SAP fairly quickly and it would not be understating the outlook that 1000 jobs of real consequence could be growing our town, shire and region, within the next decade.
It is a distressing fact that we are too low in population to have that core base to enable the services such as health, shops and entertainment that we all deserve.
I’m not saying we need to be a Dubbo or Orange, but to stay at 15,000 people, into the future won’t cut it.
To stand still is to slowly fade away and frankly we have stood still long enough – we need to get proactive about our future.
Council has met with members of Parkes Energy Renewal last week and I hope as many of you as possible can find some time at the Cooke Park information sessions on 10-12 April.
They are articulate, knowledgeable individuals who can give you the insight and answers to your concerns that we can’t.
Please go along to these sessions with your questions and we think it is an excellent opportunity to engage respectfully with the proponent to get the answers you seek.
This is the initial step in any development for the SAP so, hopefully, we will be able to be involved in this type of process for any future developments that come to the SAP.
We want you to engage in these sessions and reach out to your elected councillors so Parkes Shire Council has the opportunity to hear all viewpoints.
I just write this (and thank you for reading) to let you know that I would like to see decisions on this project being made on science, facts and social license (ie what’s in it for Parkes) - and ultimately we will stand together on what’s negotiable and non-negotiable for the best interests of all of us that call Parkes Shire home.
Mayor Neil Westcott
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