27 June, 2011

Campbell Newman's Legacy


I have written the following letter to my Community & Stakeholder Coordinator for the Northern Link Road Tunnel Project.


N-Link is a $1.8b project for a four lane underground motor way from Toowong to Kelvin Grove.

It makes me wonder:

Is tunnels all Can-Do could do?






Teresa Millar
Community and Stakeholder Coordinator - East

Dear Teresa,

Thank you for your email today.

I wonder if there is anything TransCity can do to re-route the N-Link transitions, to avoid the Fig tree which was re-located during the construction of the Inner City Bypass (ICB).

This tree was relocated at great expense by a previous regime. It makes a mockery of the guilt offset process, if relocated trees are going to be mowed down by subsequent projects. The tree holds a degree of sentimental significance to some people in my community.

I understand there are also two Hoop Pines (Araucaria cunninghamii) which are approximately 40m high. The hoop pine are allegedly around 100 years old. I am also told there is a significant and healthy Moreton Bay Fig ( Ficus macrophylla) to be removed.

My main concerns about the Northern Link Road Tunnel, are related to perpetuation of car dependence, peak oil, climate change etc and the related social justice issues for future generations & those in developing communities who will suffer the worst consequences of climate change.

This current project that you represent will produce 32 000 tonnes of CO2e during construction and an estimated annual GHG emissions for the operation of the project are 18 120 tonnes CO2-e (averaged over a 12 year period from time of opening).

Mowing down old growth trees only adds insult to injury.

regards,

Rowan Barber

1 comment:

  1. You're wonderful, Rowan. It is indeed a sad thing to see the destruction of healthy trees for the sake of a highly polluting project that only furthers the expansion of unsustainable car use. Further irony is heaped onto this through the name Legacy - destroying trees planted over the past century for future generations, in order to diminish the options for future generations to live in a healthy climate or develop sustainably.

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