Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• I think in Victoria we have struggled even in getting to reduction from qualitative
to quantitative.
• Issues are quality of datasets, lack of cooperation between proponents. I think the
issues around getting the data together, particularly for western Victoria, that has
been one of the most frustrating things from an assessment point of view.
• End up in an adversarial position in a hearing. Would rather a more unifi ed
assessment on impact on species and how to manage it. Mostly disappointment.
In 1997 there was quite a lot of effort in trying to put that basic research into
place, but that has been diffi cult due to changes of government.
• What makes our work easy is if data is good, the level of investigation is good
and local government and communities are talking from the same song sheet.
Q: TP to NW - New Zealand people have described process of caucusing - do you
have any observations about getting these types of concerns sorted out pre hear-
ing and maybe pre application?
NW
• Yes I think in highly technical areas, caucusing can work very well. In the
last 2 years I have done it three or four times around traffi c and hydro pro-
cesses, etc.
• If you get experts who are willing to get in a room together without infl uence
from clients and have a good free and frank discussion, which you can then sub-
mit as a written statement, can be very effective and effi cient.
•
To work well you need a variety of experts.
Q: (From the fl oor) Elizabeth Stark (Symbolix) - It seems like every 20 minutes
someone says “if we just had all that data everyone's collecting…” I think this
could be very fraught if all the assumptions that are associated with that data are
also available. How would this change, how you do your jobs if all this informa-
tion was released? What would you change in how you do things?
SP
• It would be cheaper because you'd all have access to common data. The litera-
ture on wind farms in Europe and North America has been plagued by grey lit-
erature and only recently has this come out. But I think you are going to keep
reinventing the wheel and costing clients money unless you share data.
NW
• You may end up changing the conservation status of a species if research may
show that there is more than previously thought.
JL
• Governments are particularly bad at funding the biodiversity databases, particu-
larly in Victoria. We know people are submitting data that sits for years before
being made available.
