Dear editor,
I write to raise the awareness in the Kimba community of a proposal to build an unmanned fuel station on Eyre Highway to the west of the Shell service station.
The building application (25027379) is currently before the Eyre Regional Assessment Panel (ERAP), with public comments closing on November 15th.
Such a proposal could only undermine the financial viability of the Kimba Motel Roadhouse and Caravan Park (KMR&CP), a vital and vibrant business offering a full range of services, currently employing eight people and looking for more.
Anything that would threaten this business should be fiercely resisted.
It is essential a town like Kimba, trying to attract stopover tourists, has a manned multi-service facility.
This proposal has at its heart a plan to destroy jobs in Kimba.
If established, it would reduce the viability of the KMR&CP and employ virtually no one.
It could only be negative for the community, and any competitive fuel price advantage would almost certainly be temporary and disappear if the KMR&CP were to close.
I have lodged a submission with ERAP detailing my concerns with its likely negative impact on our community and businesses and urge other district residents to let ERAP, the District Council of Kimba and the state government know that Kimba does not want a facility which provides no jobs and works to destroy the ones we already have.
Rowan Ramsey, Kimba
Stick desalination plant where it is needed
Dear editor,
Port Lincoln consumes about 2.5 gigalitres of mains water per year on average.
The Draft Water Allocation Plan recently released by the Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board states that 3.5 gigalitres per year can be sustainably pumped from the Uley South basin to and beyond the Northside Tanks at Port Lincoln.
It is obvious therefore that there is no need for a desalination plant to be built in or anywhere near the city to supply water to Port Lincoln.
There is an urgent need for an Eyre Peninsula Desalination Plant to supply consumers in central and northern Eyre Peninsula.
It should feed into the water grid at the Polda to Lock trunk main.
The plant should be located on the Tungketta Coast south east of Elliston, with about 7 kilometres of pipeline to an elevated storage tank on one of the nearby Tungketta hills.
The pipes and much of the equipment already ordered could be suitable for installation at Tungketta instead of at Billy Lights Point, Port Lincoln.
It is very late but not too late to cease construction at Billy Lights Point and not bury 7km of pipeline under roads between that site and tanks on Northside Hill.
Let’s get this right at last!
John Scott, Louth Bay
Not worth the risk
Dear editor,
Risk – the uncertainty that something may result in a loss or injury – has been ignored by PIRSA in its decision to move oysters from an area affected by the algal bloom to one not affected by it, (‘Oyster growers’ bloom anxiety’, The Advertiser, 31 October).
Angel Oysters’ CEO Zac Halman’s description – “the possibility of transferring the algal bloom as a one in a billion sort of chance” – provides no guarantee that this spread and its harmful consequences will not occur.
Despite the long odds of the brevetoxin, caused by the algal bloom, infecting the pristine waters of the West Coast, we all know that on some occasions, the ‘roughie’ can get up.
It is far better to err on the side of caution than to take a gamble with the marine environment and the livelihood of West Coast oyster growers.
Ian Macgowan, Ceduna
Lack of care
Dear editor,
The Nationals dropping the ‘net zero’ deal struck with Scott Morrison leaves them, and potentially the Coalition, with a policy position that fails to connect with middle Australia.
They are demonstrating a shameful lack of care about climate disasters and people living in the bush, backing coal and gas companies above everyone else.
Jim Allen, Panorama
