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Cost cutting increases bushfire threat: NSW Farmers

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NSW Farmers Association, Media Release, 28 February 2023

New high voltage power lines in the state’s south pose an unacceptable bushfire risk to communities, NSW Farmers has warned.

Despite multiple findings and reports of power lines causing serious bushfires and disrupting firefighting efforts, the NSW Government is continuing to allow developers to go ahead with more overhead transmission lines in fire-affected parts of the state’s south.

NSW Farmers Energy Transition Working Group chair Reg Kidd said the Government had to explain why it was allowing Transgrid to build more overhead power lines when there was compelling evidence they increased the risk of bushfires.

“Transgrid have identified ‘a high degree of bushfire risk along parts of the route’ for their HumeLink project,” Mr Kidd said.

“Almost half of the Black Saturday fires were caused by power lines and the inquiry into the Black Summer fires found power lines were a suspected cause of the more damaging fires.

“Communities need to be told if they’re being put at risk so Sydney can have more renewable electricity, and they deserve to know how they will be kept safe when the next fire season arrives.”

According to a Wollongong University study, there was strong evidence the consequences of fires caused by transmission were worse than fires from other causes, and that fires caused by electrical faults were more prevalent and burned larger areas during elevated fire danger conditions. The total economic cost of bushfires was set to almost double in the next 40 years, according to a conservative estimate from Deloitte, to about $1.3 billion per year by 2060. For context, the damage from the Black Summer fires alone was estimated at $230 billion.

While proponents said overhead powerlines were cheaper than running lines underground, Mr Kidd said, those claims did not stack up when compared to the damage caused by bushfires.

“We have lost hundreds of people to these horrific bushfires, and the economic cost is in the hundreds of billions,” Mr Kidd said.

“We need to improve the understanding of disaster risks – such as from overhead transmission lines – and then collaborate and coordinate to build resilience and address the long-term costs of natural disasters.

“Underground power lines might cost more now, but we would argue that if they save lives and improve firefighting efforts then that is money well spent.”

Mr Kidd called for an urgent remedy for the planning mistakes of the past and said there must be greater consideration of the lifetime costs and benefits of undergrounding power lines from the outset of every project to protect communities.

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