Bass Coast Environmental news

Thank you, AGL

29/10/2020

Everyone has a stake in the result of the inquiry into the
proposed Crib Point gas import jetty.

By Neil Daly

THANK you, AGL and APA, for galvanising the people to send 6058 submissions to the inquiry into the proposed Crib Point gas import jetty and the gas pipeline to Pakenham.

The submissions came from community organisations, environmental groups, local councils and thousands of individual citizens associated with Western Port, its islands and surrounding lands.

In reviewing over a thousand randomly selected submissions, it was overwhelmingly evident that the proposed gas import terminal was not wanted.

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Sand miner digs in

29/10/2020

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The Dandy Premix sand quarry, looking towards
Western Port.

By Catherine Watson

THIS week many Grantville residents received a letter containing a notice of an application by Dandy Premix to expand their current pit, opposite Deep Creek Road in Grantville, and open another pit in a wooded area on the same site.

According to a report submitted as part of their application, total production from their Grantville site is expected to double to about 750,000 to 800,000 tonnes per annum by 2026.

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Western Port defenders back into battle

2/10/2020

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Floating storage regasification unit, Port of Rotterdam, 2017.
Photo: Alf van Beem

By Catherine Watson

WITH only 40 days to respond to an 11,000-page report on AGL’s proposed gas plant at Crib Point, the Phillip Island Conservation Society faced an onerous task.

Fortunately, the small PICS team had plenty of recent experience to call on. Having only recently fought a three-year battle to stop a proposed container port at Hastings, they were able to call on many of the same technical reports to mount their argument that the AGL plant has no place in Western Port.

“You hope you don’t have to keep fighting the same battle,” a weary PICS president, Jeff Nottle, told the Post.

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The power trip

1/10/2020

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Werner Theinert and the Nissan Leaf e+ ... a car that can
power a house and potentially many other households.

By Werner Theinert

I’VE been working in power stations and the power industry for over 40 years and have always been a fan of solar photo voltaics (Solar PV).

We had a 6 kilowatt system installed in our Callignee home, a 7.5kW system in Wonthaggi and finally a 12kW system here in Harmers Haven. The dream was always to have a battery storage system capable of effectively storing the sun’s excess power during the day and using that stored electrical energy during the evening.

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Speak up, Russell and Darren!

18/9/2020

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Lauren Burns, left, and Lynn Atkinson prepare for Gippsland's day of climate action.

By Lauren Burn

WHERE are our elected representatives when we need them to speak out for urgent action on climate change, to stem the disastrous impacts on Gippsland?

In the light of catastrophic bushfires, damaging sea level rises and drought affecting local farmers, Gippsland federal MPs Russell Broadbent and Darren Chester are noticeably absent from the dialogue on reducing our carbon emissions.

Both MPs have been silent on the climate emergency but vocal in their support for a gas-led economic recovery from the ravages of COVID-19. Gas is a polluting fossil fuel that will counter any chance of Australia meeting the internationally agreed Paris climate target.

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Our extinction crisis

3/9/2020

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By Lauren Burns

AUSTRALIANS’ love of nature unites us. A 2019 survey of 55,000 people by the ABC found that ‘appreciation of the natural environment’ was the second most important aspect of ‘being Australian’.

Yet, paradoxically, we are in the midst of an extinction crisis. The Australian Conservation Foundation reports that 1 million species are at risk of extinction globally, including nearly 2000 Australian plants, animals and ecosystems.

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Council climate plan zeroes in on 2030

21/8/2020

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Bass Coast residents celebrate last year after councillors
declared a climate emergency.

By Catherine Watson

IT STARTED with a petition – more than 1000 Bass Coast residents asking the council to take a lead on climate action.

Exactly a year after the Bass Coast Climate Action Network presented the petition, the council has responded with an ambitious climate change action plan that was endorsed at this week’s council meeting.

The plan sets a pathway for Bass Coast to get to zero net emissions by 2030,
recommending actions for the council, households, business, industry and the agricultural sector.

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A watery makeover …

14/8/2020

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Three shapes knee-deep in mud spark Neil Daly’s curiosity.

By Neil Daly

WE'RE lucky here, for along parts of the eastern arm of the Western Port foreshore, you can have the world to yourself – or so you think!

It was a warm summer’s morning in January 2020. The tide was out; the Queensferry foreshore was mine.

Suddenly, there they were some 50 metres or so offshore, ‘three shapes’ knee-deep in mud dragging a sled.

Momentarily I thought of Scott and his party in the Antarctica struggling to get back to the Base Camp, but I came to my senses and waited for reality to arrive.

Fifteen minutes later, the ‘shapes’, dressed in wet suits and a little exhausted, made dry land.

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Not too coastal: alliance

30/7/2020

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The coastal section of the walk should be confined to the George Bass walk, extended to San Remo

By Catherine Watson

A PROPOSED walking trail between San Remo and Inverloch should turn inland for much of its length, according to an alliance of resident and friends groups.

The Yallock-Bulluk Coastal Alliance last week released its submission on the proposed Yallock-Bulluk walking trail, part of a new marine and coastal park promised by the Andrews Government before the 2017 election.

While the original promoters of the park probably envisaged a 50-kilometre coastal walk, the Alliance argues that walking along the coast between Kilcunda and Inverloch should not be encouraged or promoted as part of the walk, due to the fragile nature of the coastal vegetation and the rare birds that breed on the beaches.

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Bass Coast embraces green power

17/7/2020

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Wonthaggi wind farm

By Michael Whelan

THIS week Bass Coast Council committed to buying all its electricity from renewable sources in Victoria.

We are teaming with several metropolitan councils to source 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources through the Local Government Power Purchase Agreement, a project led by the City of Darebin.

By working with the large metropolitan councils, Bass Coast gains access to strong expertise and will achieve significant purchasing power and better pricing. Power purchasing agreements are a powerful tool in encouraging renewable energy projects and this agreement may well underpin new projects in Victoria.

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Action stations on climate plan

12/7/2020

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Solar panels on Wonthaggi's Union Theatre.

By Maddy Harford

A GROUP of 15 or so Bass Coast Climate Action Network members ‘gathered’ online last week to scrutinise draft actions to be included in council’s 10-year Climate Change Action Plan. The draft actions were released recently for public comment along with a survey seeking feedback.

People hailed from all corners of the shire as well as some from neighbouring districts wanting ideas to prompt their own shires to greater action.

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Looking for Saunders

11/6/2020

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Deep in lockdown, Vilya Congreave watched a miracle of Nature unfold in the backyard. Photo: Martin Congreave

By Vilya Congreave

IT ALL started with Costa, from Gardening Australia, telling us that moths were great pollinators. It prompted me to think of them with a new-found respect. With COVID 19 restrictions in place, there was more time to spend wandering the garden to inspect and marvel at what was growing and what needed to be attended to.

To my amazement I came across a “stick insect”, which most of us would remember finding as children and which prompted me to find some answers: What’s the correct terminology for a stick insect, what’s actually inside and how was this amazing portable home even made?

With thanks to the Queensland Museum, I found an article that created great excitement as it took me through the life span of the Saunders case moth.

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Inverloch sand fences offer a glimmer of hope

29/5/2020

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South Gippsland Conservation Society calls for extension of wet sand fencing along Inverloch beach.

By Catherine Watson

THE South Gippsland Conservation Society is calling for the extension of wet sand fencing along one kilometre of the Inverloch beach.

The society says regular dune renourishment and extension of the wet sand fences over a longer length of the beach represents the best short-term, low-cost solution to protecting the dunes while a longer term strategy is developed through the coastal hazard assessment process.

In a 30-minute video made by SGCS, Coastline in Crisis, society president Philip Heath says the trial wet sand fence erected in front of the surf lifesaving club last October has performed well, and is now almost completely buried by sand, as intended.

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The Cyan Way

27/5/2020

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The beginnings of an ‘old carbon sink’ in a Lang Lang cove

By Neil Daly

IN MY article “You too can be a carbon farmer” (The Waterline News, February 2020), I proposed that blue and green carbon farming be approached holistically rather than as competing entities and thus become the Cyan Way.

To some, this may be a pipe dream.

Then again, at Queensferry, the Bass Coast Landcare Network (BCLN) is undertaking a project to plant mangroves along the foreshore and trees on an adjoining property. This now ties in with another BCLN project to “Offset your car emissions in local planting projects” by planting “indigenous plants”.

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Bin there, done that

6/3/2020

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Bass Coast is diverting 77 per cent of the waste that
once went to landfill.

By Catherine Watson

LAST week when the State Government announced that all Victorian councils would be required to introduce a bin for food and other organic waste by 2030, it was hard not to feel a smidgeon of pride.

Bass Coast Shire Council introduced an organic collection in September 2017 at a time when only 11 of 79 Victorian councils had a kerbside organics collection.

Being ahead of the pack isn’t always easy and the council copped flak from residents irked at having to accommodate a third bin and not convinced that there was any need for it.

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Western Port defenders hailed

7/11/2019

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Western Port defenders Meredith Hayes, left, Graeme Burgan, Dale Stohr, Jeff Nottle and Karri Giles with Environment Victoria’s former director Linda Parlane.

By Catherine Watson

WHILE climate activists are rattling the Prime Minister, Phillip Island’s eco warriors have drawn praise for decades of action to stop the industrialisation of Western Port.

At Environment Victoria’s 50th anniversary celebrations in Melbourne last week, the Phillip Island Conservation Society won the community environment award for a long-term contribution to conservation in Victoria

The citation noted the group’s “resilience in the face of repeated attempts to destroy the local environment at Western Port …Your achievements serve as an example of what we can all achieve with courage and persistence”.

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Flights of fancy

26/9/2019

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By Sue Woolley

I’VE always loved birds, but have never really had the time to pursue birdwatching as a hobby. Working, and bringing up children who were never really interested in the outdoors, meant that the idea of spending time walking, identifying birds and photographing them was out of the question until recently. I joined Birdlife Australia and Birdlife Photography many years ago, and avidly read the magazines and watched jealously as outings and talks were advertised.

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Growing, growing, gone …

14/9/2019

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Carbon auctioneer Greg Price orchestrated some spirited bidding at Australia’s first auction of carbon insets, held in Cowes last weekend. The auction raised $7000 to promote carbon farming on the island.

By Bhavani Rooks

DON’T get confused about carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon. It took me a while. They’re two different states of the same thing. The bad stuff is the CO2 in the air; the good stuff is the carbon in the soil or vegetation. Carbon farming, or regenerative agriculture, is all about putting carbon dioxide back in the soil.

Each year on average on Phillip Island 19,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent has been stored in vegetation thanks to Landcare, Westernport Water, Nature Parks and all the groups that are planting trees across the island.

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Special day for plover lovers

13/9/2019

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Mother plover and chicks. Photo: Glenn Ehmke,
courtesy of Birdlife Australia

BASS Coast’s Friends of the Hooded Plover are shining a spotlight on these vulnerable and much loved local birds as part of International Plover Appreciation Day on Monday (September 16).

The day is aimed at raising awareness of the plight of ground-nesting plovers who share our beaches, including Inverloch, Cape Paterson, Harmers Haven, Williamsons and Kilcunda.

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Local co-op unveils new power deal

12/9/2019

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By Susan Davies

THE ENERGY Innovation Co-operative has announced a new retail electricity offer to benefit the Bass Coast and South Gippsland communities.

In 2018 the Co-op joined with similar groups to start the move towards a community-owned electricity retailer in Victoria. The aim is to keep electricity prices as low as possible, to make pricing as transparent as possible, to return benefits to the local community, and to help fund community owned renewable energy generation.

The first step is a partnership with a commercial retailer. “Co-operative Power” is now taking customers. Local householders and businesses are invited to visit the Energy Innovation Co-op website and click on the Co-operative Power link to check out the new power offer.

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Here’s to a bright future

31/8/2019

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Visitors to the open day can visit Bimbadeen, the scene of Bob Davie's ground-breaking trials of carbon farming.

Electric vehicles, a carbon farming tour, and a low carbon lunch are on the menu as Totally Renewable Phillip Island marks its first year of action.

An open day at the Cowes Cultural Centre next Sunday is a chance for locals to catch up with what the group’s been doing as it plans for a decade of action to help the Island transition to 100 per cent renewable energy.

Highlights of the open day include:

TRPI energy challenge. Reduce your energy use by 20 per cent and compete for a 5kW solar system and other energy solutions.
There will be electric vehicles on display, with someone to answer all your questions.
Solar installers will be on hand to discuss the SmartBuy solar and battery program.
Carbon farming tour to Bimbadeen Farm in Ventnor where Bob Davies is conducting ground-breaking trials of carbon farming (Bookings required).
Stalls promoting sustainable living.

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The fine art of mending

18/8/2019

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Happy customer Florence with her newly mended wardrobe drawer.

By Hilary Stuchbery

BEFORE the doors even opened for the first Fixit Café at the Wonthaggi Men’s Shed on July 21, people were lining up with items to be fixed.

A rocking chair, a garden fork, a sander and a saucepan were all weighed and handed over to the appropriate volunteer.

Robert Mesley and his team of fixers from the Men’s Shed kept up a blistering pace of mending, while guest volunteers from Melton, Karen and Danny Ellis, concentrated on electrical faults and sewing.

Meanwhile, Iain Ritchie served up endless coffees from the machine and visitors enjoyed the delicious contributions as the buzz in the room intensified.

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Our natural treasures

17/8/2019

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Moonah trees, Churchill Island. Print by Robert Ingpen

Some of Phillip Island’s trees are as historic and memorable as our heritage-listed buildings, writes Greg Buchanan.

By Greg Buchanan

THE old Moonah trees growing around the coastline of Churchill Island are perhaps 200 years old or more. Their twisted and gnarled limbs and dense canopy may have been part of the landscape for indigenous Australians well before the issue of a pastoral lease and farming of the island in the mid 1800s.

This iconic species, a feature of Robert Ingpen’s drawings of Churchill Island, are as memorable as the heritage-listed buildings on the island.

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Where did our beach go?

3/8/2019

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Ecologist Alison Oates, South Gippsland Conservation Society vice president Dave Sutton and Marine and Coastal Council chair Anthony Boxshall inspect the beach after the launch of the report. The wet sand fencing trial can be seen in the background.

By Catherine Watson

WE ARE in uncharted waters when it comes to understanding what’s happening to the Inverloch beaches, according to geomorphologist Neville Rosengren.

He made the comment at the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club yesterday as the South Gippsland Conservation Society launched a major report that called for a range of short-term and long-term measures to address or slow Inverloch’s coastal erosion.

The Inverloch Coastal Resilience Report, the culmination of 12 months of investigation and consultation, draws on specialist consultant studies in geomorphology, ecology, cultural heritage and economics commissioned for the project.

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All hands on deck

20/7/2019

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Inverloch beach. Photo: BC CAN

By Michael Nugent

YOU’VE installed solar roof panels, you avoid heavily packaged goods, you leave the car at home and walk or bike, you take your own cup for takeaway coffee …

But while you and I are trying to reduce our carbon footprints and to live more sustainably, individual actions alone won’t save us from climate change’s most severe effects.

We also need collective action from federal, state and local governments to reduce emissions, i.e. climate change mitigation. Collective action is also needed for climate change adaptation, i.e., to help communities adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change, including those already upon us in Bass Coast, such as increased coastal erosion.

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