Monday, August 9, 2010

the power and the inglory

I had to laugh when I heard John Brumby and Peter Batchelor claim on the news tonight that moving power lines underground would be too costly, and 'would cause an increase in power bills'.

Since when has any Victorian government in the past 15 years cared about increasing power costs for consumers?? When they virtually gave away electricity for free to Alcoa to power its highly polluting aluminium smelter at Portland? When they privatised the SEC and gave away our power creation and retail ownership to private companies?? When they decided to foist unnecessary and ineffective new meters on everyone, like it or not?? When they decided to build an unwanted and highly-polluting water 'putrification' plant in Gippsland??

Give me a break, Brumby! We already pay far too much for electricity, thanks largely to your government and the Kennett government, but I'd gladly pay a little more if it meant helping to remove a major cause of summer bushfires, removing the threat of summer blackouts when power lines are burnt out, and improving the aesthetics of the whole State by hiding these ugly and dangerous power lines underground.

It already happens by default in new communities, and it's time that you stopped hiding behind lies and implement it across the rest of the state.

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