The government is also backing further research into whether windfarms damage people’s health, Environment Minister Greg Hunt said Friday in a radio interview.
People have “concerns over the localized impacts of wind energy and they deserve a right to be heard,” Hunt said. “This is where the role of a commissioner comes in.”
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who’s labeled windfarms as ugly and noisy, has shown limited enthusiasm to join the U.S. and China in a broader global fight against climate change.
His government axed a price on carbon emissions and is negotiating with lawmakers over reducing renewable energy targets.
Championed as a tool to cut greenhouse-gases in nations as diverse as Spain and China, windfarms have become contentious in Australia, a country with 9 percent of the world’s black coal reserves.
“Up close, they are ugly, they are noisy and they may have all sorts of other impacts which I will leave to the scientists to study,”
Abbott said about windfarms on June 12. His treasurer, Joe Hockey, has called them “appalling” and “utterly offensive.”
Sustained Attack
Hunt rejected claims the government is involved in a sustained attack on the renewable energy industry. The proposed commissioner is a person who can hear concerns and complaints, he said.
“This is clearly politically motivated and without any scientific basis,” the Clean Energy Council said in an e-mail response to questions.
In a report released in February, the National Health and Medical Research Council found that “there is currently no consistent evidence that windfarms cause adverse health effects in humans.”
The council has said no problems have been detected to date, but that there should be additional research going forward, Hunt said. “When the most senior and significant scientific agency in the country says that, I think we should probably follow their advice,” he said.
bloomberg.com
No comments:
Post a Comment