|
SUIDPUNT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE (SEA)
box 56 agulhas 7287 south africa
tel +27 (28) 435 6565 g fax +27 (86) 674 9522 g email cowperlewis@isat.co.za
What
is SEA?
The
Suidpunt Environmental Alliance (SEA) has been operating at the southern tip
of Africa for the past thirteen years.
Our Alliance
consists of a small group of committed citizens concerned mainly with the
health of the local and global natural environment.
SEA, as the only environmental
activist group in the Suidpunt, is relatively small in size; however, in
spite of this, we are one of the few societies that ever get anything
done. This is because we minimise valuable time spent on committee
meetings. We simply dont have time
for interminable discussions, and the tedious admin work related to agendas,
minutes and reports. We apply ourselves to environmental issues as they
crop up the only prerequisite being that the majority of our core members
agree with what has to be done how, when, where, and by whom.
We are non-profitmaking and we do not ask our supporters for any fees or
financial contributions. Neither do we
receive any finance from any other source whatsoever. Our love for and commitment to the natural
environment makes it a privilege for us to finance this work entirely from
our own pockets.
Complete records, available to public
scrutiny at any time, are kept of all our activities, and we have collected,
to date, signed commitments from over one hundred and sixty-five (165)
like-minded people. These signatories
have pledged unconditional support
for our Alliance.
*
* * *
*
MISSION STATEMENT
We, the members of the
Suidpunt Environmental Alliance, endeavour to:
v
Curb
unsustainable development especially in wild and fragile environments
v
Promote
sound environmental values
v
Serve
as environmental watchdogs
v
Influence
policy and decision-making
v
Endeavour
to conserve and protect the fauna and flora of the Southern Cape Overberg
v
Activate
to repair, maintain and uplift the environmental health of the planet in local,
regional, national and global matters.
Our
past work includes:
v Being
instrumental in the rejection of certain unsustainable developments in
ecologically sensitive areas in the Southern Overberg (e.g. De Mond Estuary
and Bird Sanctuary, Mount Pleasant, St Mungo Bay, Vywerbaai, etc.)
v Being
instrumental in the reduction of the previously unsustainable rate of
development (+ 30% p.a. in the mid-nineties) in the Cape Agulhas area to a more sustainable level
v Being
instrumental in the motorised vehicle ban on beaches
v Being
instrumental in the non-renewal and cessation of permits to mine pebbles
below and above the high-water mark along the Southern Overberg coast
v Being
instrumental in the preservation of coastal hummock dunes near Struisbaai
v Being instrumental
in setting up a local Municipal recycling programme
v Persuading
the Cape Agulhas
Municipality to stop
treating our tidal pools with toxic chemicals (chlorine, copper-sulphate and
lime)
v Persuading
the Cape Agulhas
Municipality to stop
destroying fynbos and spring flowers on the Agulhas waterfront
v Receiving
permission from the National Minister of Transport for the erection of
tortoise-warning signs on national and regional roads
v Receiving
permission from the Cape
Agulhas Municipality
for the beautification with indigenous plants and natural materials of the
LAgulhas waterfront
For further details contact:
Meg Cowper-Lewis
Director and Founder
Suidpunt Environmental Alliance
Box 56
AGULHAS
7287 South
Africa
Ph: +27 (0)28 435 6565; Fx: +27 (0)86 674 9522;
Sms/text: +27 (0)73 026 8800
gaia1@isat.co.za;
www.southermost.co.za
or
Yvonne (Mosie) Hope
Director
Suidpunt Environmental Alliance
Box 108
AGULHAS
7287 South
Africa
Ph/Fx: +27 (0)28 435 7888; Mobile: +27 (0)82 296 0144
mosie@isat.co.za
September 2012
Should you be wish to register
as a supporter of our Alliance, please complete the form below and post, fax
or email to the above.
Supporter Application
I/We, the undersigned,
support the Suidpunt Environmental Alliance unconditionally in all their environmental
work as it pertains to their Mission Statement above:
Full name:
.....................................................................
..
.
Address:
...................................................................
..
.
Phones: Home:
...................................
. Work:
.....
.........................
Email:
.
.......................
.
. Fax:
.......................................
......
Signature:
....................
........
Date:
.
......................................
...
SUIDPUNT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE (SEA)
box 56
agulhas 7287 south africa
tel
+27 (0)28 435 6565 * fax +27 (0)86 674 9522 * mobile
(sms/text only) +27 (0)73 026 8800
email cowperlewis@isat.co.za;
www.southermost.co.za
7 October 2012
Shawn Johnston
Environmental Process Facilitator
Sustainable Futures ZA
Email: swjohnston@mweb.co.za
Dear Mr Johnston
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCESS:
PROPOSED DENHAMI WIND FARM NEAR STRUISBAAI
WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE (DEA Reference No.
12/12/20/2569
The Suidpunt Environmental Alliance
(SEA) supports green energy. However,
in spite of our positive policy towards green energy, we have serious
reservations concerning the suitability of the proposed Denhami Wind Farm
near Struisbaai.
We therefore wish to record our
concerns as follows:
Proposed site
·
Agulhas National Park (ANP):
The proposed site is in close proximity to Agulhas National Park. The wind
turbines are visible from the hiking trails within the Park and from the top
of the Sandberg
·
Nuwejaars Wetland Special
Management Area (SMA). The proposed
site is in too close a proximity to the SMA a
conservation/tourism/agricultural enterprise.
Flora, fauna, avifauna
·
The proposed site is
inappropriate in that it borders on a biodiversity hot spot and a World
Heritage Site.
·
Bats have radar but get
sucked into the vortex of the turbines
·
The proposed wind farm might
not be in the path of migratory birds but resident birds will be at
substantial risk with regard to the rotation of blades and resultant vortex
created by movement of air.
Visual impact power lines
The power lines leading to the
proposed site will be visible from Agulhas National Park rest camp and hiking
trails
Wetlands and saltpans
Historically the area is a myriad of
wetlands and saltpans. Seasonal birds
such as flamingos, pelicans, storks, raptors, etc., flock here in their
hundreds of thousands each year.
The Agulhas National Park and the Nuwejaars
Special Management Area (SMA) are currently restoring wetlands to encourage biodiversity
and the protection of flora and fauna.
A development such as the proposed
Denhami Wind Farm is inappropriate right in the middle of an area dotted with
significant and sizeable wetlands and saltpans.
Noise pollution
We are concerned about the audible
effect on the human and natural environment in and around the ANP and the
(SMA) such as the inland lake Soetendalsvlei, the historic farm Zoetendals
Vallei, and accommodation facility, Jubilee Cottage.
Alternatives to wind turbines?
We would be interested to know whether
other green energy options such as solar, wave action, etc., have been investigated.
Benefits to local people?
·
Financial: We presume that, since
the electricity generated by the wind turbines will be fed back into the
grid, local residents of these Southern Overberg towns will not benefit
financially from the proposed development.
·
Job creation: Once the
construction phase has been completed, we presume that job creation will be
minimal.
RARE EARTH METALS/MINERALS
The Suidpunt Environmental Alliance
(SEA) feels that the mining of rare earth metals (mainly neodymium) for the magnets
essential for the production of wind turbines might override the benefits of
generating green energy from wind turbines.
The following articles from The
Daily Mail website reads as follows:
In
China, the true cost of Britain's clean, green wind power experiment:
Pollution on a disastrous scale
By
SIMON PARRY in China and ED DOUGLAS in Scotland. Created 26 January 2011.
This toxic lake poisons Chinese
farmers, their children and their land. It is what's left behind after making
the magnets for Britain's latest wind turbines... and, as a special Live investigation reveals, is merely
one of a multitude of environmental sins committed in the name of our new
green Jerusalem.
The lake
of toxic waste at Baotou, China, which has been dumped by the rare earth
processing plants in the background.
On the outskirts of one of
Chinas most polluted cities, an old farmer stares despairingly out across an
immense lake of bubbling toxic waste covered in black dust. He remembers it
as fields of wheat and corn.
Yan Man Jia Hong is a
dedicated Communist. At 74, he still believes in his revolutionary heroes,
but he despises the young local officials and entrepreneurs who have let this
happen.
Chairman Mao was a hero
and saved us, he says. But these people only care about money. They have
destroyed our lives.
Vast fortunes are being
amassed here in Inner Mongolia; the region has more than 90 per cent of the
worlds legal reserves of rare earth metals, and specifically neodymium, the
element needed to make the magnets in the most striking of green energy
producers, wind turbines.
.
Live has uncovered the distinctly dirty truth about the process used
to extract neodymium: it has an appalling environmental impact that raises
serious questions over the credibility of so-called green technology.
The reality is that, as
Britain flaunts its environmental credentials by speckling its coastlines and
unspoiled moors and mountains with thousands of wind turbines, it is
contributing to a vast man-made lake of poison in northern China. This is the
deadly and sinister side of the massively profitable rare-earths industry
that the green companies profiting from the demand for wind turbines would
prefer you knew nothing about.
Hidden out of sight behind
smoke-shrouded factory complexes in the city of Baotou, and patrolled by
platoons of security guards, lies a five-mile wide tailing lake. It has
killed farmland for miles around, made thousands of people ill and put one of
Chinas key waterways in jeopardy.
This vast, hissing cauldron
of chemicals is the dumping ground for seven million tons a year of mined
rare earth after it has been doused in acid and chemicals and processed
through red-hot furnaces to extract its components.
Read
more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green-wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html#ixzz26YriMLYP
The Suidpunt Environmental Alliance
(SEA) wonders how clean green wind power actually is when considering the
negative effects on the natural environment with regard to the mining of rare
earth minerals such as neodymium.
Kindly acknowledge receipt of this
objection.
Yours sincerely
Meg
Cowper-Lewis
Director and
Founder: SUIDPUNT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE
Representing
165 signatories who have pledged unconditional support for the Alliance
|