Botany Bay and Catchment Alliance

EcoTransit Sydney have released their 2007 Policy Statement. In contains some excellent suggestions for improving public transport, reducing green house gases, and reducing our oil dependency. It is well worth reading.

Read Environmentally Speaking Issue 11 by Lynda Newnam

Greens MP and ports spokesperson Lee Rhiannon says Premier Iemma’s commitment to an expanded Port Botany will unnecessarily strangle Sydney with an increasing number of trucks and freight trains impacting negatively on Sydney’s traffic, air pollution and health.”The NSW government will never reach its 40 percent rail freight target without adopting a freight infrastructure charge which would create an incentive to move freight by rail. Its decision to duck this initiative shows it has again caved into the road lobby,” Ms Rhiannon said.

“For the government to claim there will be 300 fewer truck movements a day around the Airport, Port Botany and Marrickville and a reduction in CO2 is pure fantasy.” (more…)

Just when Sydney thought the NSW Government’s recent planning and infrastructure debacles could not get any worse, Premier Morris Iemma yesterday announced his plans to increase the number of containers to be transported on trains by up to 40% to alleviate Sydney’s traffic congestion, but this will not prevent the 300% increase in containers being transported on trucks on Sydney’s roads when the Premier plans to increase container throughput at Port Botany to 3.2 million containers per annum.”The Premier’s decision to bulldoze ahead with the Massive Port Botany expansion (which incorporates a 60 ha third terminal expansion requiring the dredging 7.5 million cubic metres of Botany Bay) is another example of gross economic and environmental mismanagement which follows on the back of the Cross City Tunnel, Sydney Airport Rail Link, the M5 and the Lane Cove bypass etc. that will create a sleeping giant and its impact will dwarf the above-mentioned developments and squeeze the last breath of from Sydney’s choking roads”, claims Greg Killeen, Save Botany Beach Deputy Chairperson.

“Transporting 40% of the current throughput of containers by rail will alleviate some traffic congestion in the short term, however, it will just shift the container trucks elsewhere and the extra freight trains will operate 24/7 and have an increasing major impact on residential properties near the freight rail tracks”, he said. (more…)

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, (IPART) is conducting a “Review of the Interface Between the Land Transport Industries and the Stevedores at Port Botany”. They have written an Issues Paper and are asking for submissions.

Telephone Betty Carter,at IPART, on (02) 9290 8483 for a copy of the document.

Submissions are due by 8 June 2007.