Issue 146 8 August, 2018
Your independent community newspaper - Ph: 4325 7369
Environmental Defender joins fight to save Kangy Angy trees
CEN calls for more support for Kangy Angy residents
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he Community Environment Network (CEN) has called on the broader community to support the Kangy Angy residents who continue to fight the environmental destruction being caused to make way for the NSW Government’s intercity train fleet maintenance facility.
Kangy Angy residents in front of the threatened trees
he NSW E n v i ro n m e n t a l Defender’s Office (EDO) has stepped up to represent Kangy Angy residents as they fight to save a stand of mature trees in Orchard Rd that were not earmarked for removal in Transport for NSW plans for its innercity fleet rail maintenance facility.
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The EDO wrote to Transport for NSW on Tuesday, July 31, seeking to stop the removal of the trees and questioning whether Transport for NSW had consent to do so under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC
Act). According to the EDO, the trees constituted “habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater and the Swift Parrot. “Those species are protected from actions which will have a significant impact on the species, without first obtaining (and complying with) a valid approval granted under the EPBC Act. “Our client is concerned that Transport NSW is proposing to clear a stand of native trees, including gum trees, blackbutts and bloodwoods, in the vicinity of Orchard Rd… without appropriate legal authority under the EPBC Act, or the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act
1979 (EPA Act, NSW),” the EDO said in its letter. “Based on our review of the Review of Environmental Factors prepared for the Project, it would appear that the Project, as approved, proposes to retain the vegetation along Orchard Rd,” it said. “We are instructed that our client has requested copies of the revised plans that Transport NSW says now authorises the clearing of these trees that were to be retained, however they have not been provided with any such plans. “Without access to the relevant revised plans, it is not clear to us that Transport for NSW is now authorised to clear the trees that were to be retained.
“In order to confirm whether the proposed clearing is authorised by the EPBC Act approval for the Project, we require, as a matter of urgency, copies of the revised plans that Transport for NSW relies on to authorise the clearing of this area. “If the plans have been submitted for approval by the Department, we require a copy of the plans and the relevant approval by the Department. “Transport for NSW is required to obtain separate approval before trees are removed where the impact was not identified or assessed in the original environmental impact assessment for the Project. Continued P3
CEN Chairman, John Asquith, said: “As the destruction of local ecosystems is pushed through by the State Government, Kangy Angy residents continue to maintain their vigilance. “In 2003, academic, Dr Glenn Albrecht, created a new concept called ‘solastalgia’. “He has described it
as ‘the pain or sickness caused by the loss or lack of solace and the sense of desolation connected to the present state of one’s home and territory’. “It is the ‘lived experience’ of negative environmental change. “It is the homesickness you have when you are still at home. “It is that feeling you have when your sense of place is under attack. “Not only the Kangy Angy residents, but many people from across the Coast, are experiencing a deep sense of loss as this site begins to resemble a moonscape. “Support the residents in their efforts to stop further environmental destruction,” he said. Source: Media release, Aug 1 John Asquith, Community Environment Network
The cleared area at Kangy Angy has been described as a moonscape and an open cut mine
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