Generating pollution
GOVERNMENT refusal to supply electricity to the Daintree is thwarting rainforest conservation and costing a fortune, a community group claims.
The State Government has excluded the area between the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation from the mainstream electricity grid since 2000 in an effort to curb development.
The region's 685 permanent residents rely on a combination of solar systems, polluting diesel and petrol-driven generators.
More than 265 cloudy days each year make it tough to run solar cells and locals must rely heavily on their generators, Baileys Creek Community League president Russell O’Doherty told The Cairns Post.
About 2.5 million litres of diesel is burned by Daintree businesses each year.
"That doesn't even include residents," Mr O'Doherty said.
"We're pumping thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the rainforest and with diesel fetching $1.90 a litre in the Daintree the cost of running a generator was ‘astronomical’.
"We went to town and spent $370 on fuel," he said. "That'll last us about three weeks."
Maintenance of ageing solar systems also ran into the tens of thousands of dollars, he said.
Meetings with Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson and letters to Premier Anna Bligh pleading for mains connection and a tariff to lower the cost of power generation have proved futile.
"We have written multitudes of correspondence to the minister and the Premier and we have not had an answer," he said.
It was now possible to lay in electricity lines using environmentally friendly directional boring that would have no effect on the rainforest, Mr O’Doherty said.
Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson yesterday refused to reply to questions about a tariff, whether he would visit the Daintree to listen to community concerns or if any consideration had been given to environmentally friendly mains electricity solutions.
Share this article
Fighting: Cow Bay resident Russell O'Doherty.
New Jetstar flights between Cairns and Osaka
THE re-introduction of Jetstar's four weekly direct services to Osaka in Japan and a doubling of flights to Melbourne from April 1 next year are the first significant announcements today by the airline as the result of a new agreement with Cairns Airport.
Kate earns National Pride Medal
INSPIRING young leader and cancer survivor Kate Smith could hardly believe she won a national Pride of Australia medal last night.
Escapee back in custody
BREAKING NEWS: Police have found a man who escaped from police custody at Ravenshoe on Sunday night.
Woman watched boyfriend bash, strip tourist
THE girlfriend of a man accused of raping and attempting to rape two foreign tourists at a Cairns caravan park says she watched him bash and strip one of them then chase after her.
