Dam a 'disaster for all'
Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 03:40PM
by
stevem
in Environmental Impact Statement, Peter Garrett, Water Wars
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4 Comments
stevem
in Environmental Impact Statement, Peter Garrett, Water Wars
|
4 Comments
August 06, 2008
THE Queensland Government has for the first time admitted its proposed Traveston Crossing dam would be an environmental, social and financial disaster, all the way downstream to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island.
And, according to Gympie Regional Council Works Committee chairman Larry Friske, associated sewerage disposal problems could send the council broke.
Tighter Environmental Protection Agency requirements for effluent disposal came as an ironic counterpoint to the same agency’s admissions, revealed yesterday, that council would have to plan for periods of “zero flow of the Mary River due to the Traveston Dam”. In a further irony, the EPA has also rejected, on river health grounds, a council plan for land-based disposal.
“I must admit it came as a surprise that a government organisation has identified that there will (sometimes) be no flow in the Mary River as a result of the dam,” Cr Friske said.
Mayor Ron Dyne said: “I am amazed that a government department has come up with this, because I was assured in all our discussions that there would be a substantial flow in the Mary River.
“If we have to find another way of disposing of effluent (it will cost money),” he said. “If we think we’ve got a tight budget in coming weeks, it’s going to get worse.”
Finance Committee chairman Cr Donna Neilson said: “That’s a cost from the dam that we haven’t allowed for.”
Cr Dyne said: “I have a sneaking suspicion there’ll be a release from the government saying it’s not accurate”, to which Mary Valley councillor Jan Watt responded: “I suspect it is accurate though”.
Cr Friske said: “If we have reduced flow or zero flow at Gympie, what ends up at Hervey Bay?
“If the government is saying zero flow, then they are going to destroy Hervey Bay and all the fish breeding and prawn breeding the Mary River spawns, by building this dam.”
Irrigation farming would also be devastated if dry periods were marked by zero flow in the Mary River, Crs Ian Petersen and Graham Engeman said.
Cr Watt said it was the first time the government had revealed this information.
Cr Dyne said environmental protocols were a big cost.
“People have to realise we have to find the dollars and cents to fund these requirements, which seem to come out as a daily event.”
Cr Friske said council faced limited options for sewage disposal “if we can’t put it into the river”.
“You can’t put it on dairy paddocks or crops where it could get into food. It’s simply going to break us,” he said.
He said the dam was now revealed as “an ecological disaster right down the river. If they don’t allow us to put some (treated effluent) back, we’ve got a financial disaster too”.
Cr Watt said the dam’s Environmental Impact Statement, prepared by dam construction company Queensland Water Infrastructure, had claimed 85 per cent of the river’s flow would be unimpeded. Engineering director Bob Fredman said council had tried hard to find alternative means of disposal, including using the river as a conduit to sugar paddocks towards the northern part of the old Cooloola Shire.
“But we are not allowed to use the river as a conduit,” he said.
“The new treatment plant will greatly improve the quality of effluent, but as fast as we improve it, the noose tightens with new restrictions.
“This is one of the few times the EPA has commented on the dam and it is significant,” he said.
Update on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 03:48PM by
stevem
stevem
Update on Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 09:17AM by
stevem
stevem
Government admits Traveston Dam mistake
7th August 2008
By Bill Hoffman
The Queensland government has gone into damage control over advice given to Gympie Regional Council that the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam would cause no flow or reduced flow into the Mary River.
The government was forced yesterday to deny the accuracy of the information given as part of an information request by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA had written to the council for more information about its application to discharge treated effluent into the Mary from an upgraded treatment plant at Widgee.
The EPA document said “Reduced flow or zero flow of the Mary River due to the Traveston Dam is likely to increase the impact of any nutrient-laden waters on the receiving environment.’’
The request sparked an immediate outcry from Gympie Council. Mayor Ron Dyne said a zero flow on the Mary would have a major impact not only on the Fraser Coast and Gympie water supply but also on fishing at Hervey Bay and breeding grounds at the mouth of the river and serious implications for the Great Sandy Strait.
Sustainability, climate change and innovation minister Andrew McNamara went into damage control, apologising to Mr Dyne for what he described as “incorrect information that was sent to the council’’.
“As part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of an application for expansion of the Gympie Regional Council sewage treatment plant, the council was asked to model for ‘zero flows of the Mary River as a result of the Traveston Dam’,’’ Mr McNamara said. ”We are reviewing how this clearly incorrect data came to be included in the letter, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is incorrect.
“It goes against all rigorous scientific analysis of the Traveston Crossing Dam. It’s a mistake, pure and simple.’’
Mr McNamara said he had spoken to Mr Dyne yesterday and offered to personally work more closely with him and the council on the sewage plant proposal.
Update on Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 11:16AM by
stevem
stevem
Government blasts its own report
August 09, 2008
SUSTAINABILITY Minister Andrew McNamara has blasted his own department, the Environmental Protection Agency, for raising major concerns about the proposed Traveston Crossing dam, which it said would cause the Mary River to run dry.
But anti-dam activists say the Minister is misquoting his own government’s data.
“The EPA guy is absolutely right and Mr McNamara must have failed to read the Environmental Impact Statement if he says otherwise,” Save the Mary River Group president Kevin Ingersole said yesterday.
Mr McNamara this week apologised to Mayor Ron Dyne over what he described as “incorrect information” sent to Gympie Regional Council from the Environmental Protection Agency, particularly the regional council regarding the Traveston Crossing Dam.
He and Mr Ingersole were responding to this week’s exclusive report in The Gympie Times on EPA claims that council would have to replan its sewage disposal arrangements to deal with dam impacts, including periods of “zero flow.”
That admission created a furore among downstream irrigators and fishing and tourist interests in Mr McNamara’s Hervey Bay electorate, after council Works Committee chairman Larry Friske said this would mean environmental, social and economic disaster downstream.
And he said the new sewage disposal requirements would send council broke.
“As part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of an application for expansion of the Gympie Regional Council sewage treatment plant, the council was asked to model for “zero flows of the Mary River as a result of the Traveston Dam,” Mr McNamara said.
“We are reviewing how this clearly incorrect data came to be included in the letter, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is clearly incorrect,” Mr McNamara said.
“It goes against all rigorous scientific analysis of the Traveston Crossing Dam. It’s a mistake, pure and simple and that is as far as I will take it.”
He said the EIS showed the dam’s impact on flows at the mouth of the Mary River would be three to four per cent. However, Mr Ingersole said the only mistake was Mr McNamara’s misreading of the scientific analysis in the dam’s Environmental Impact Statement and his apparently inability to interpret statistics accurately.
“The EPA guy got it right and the proof is in the EIS,” Mr Ingersole said yesterday.
“The politicians must be looking in the wrong place.” He accused Mr McNamara is a misleading interpretation of statistics. “If you and I were in a golf club and one of the 100 members was James Packer, they might say our average worth is $10 million each, but that would not be telling the real story.
“The Mary River goes for years and years with pathetically low flows and then once in every so many years you get a horrendous flood.
“The average is a joke. It’s mishandling the truth and the government knows that.”
He said that on the dam’s EIS, average flow would be less than 50 per cent of the natural state. Mr McNamara said “almost 80 per cent of the Mary River catchment is downstrream of the dam, with tributaries that would ensure healthy flows.”
Update on Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 09:16AM by
stevem
stevem
Govt urged to end Traveston dam confusion
Updated Thu Aug 7, 2008
Queensland Opposition sustainability spokesman David Gibson says the State Government needs to come clean on its plans for the Traveston Crossing dam near Gympie.
The Mayor of the Gympie Regional Council says an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report has found there will be little or no flow in the Mary River in the state’s south-east if the dam is built.
But Queensland Sustainability Minister Andrew McNamara says the report is wrong and flows in the river are predicted to be reduced by only 3 or 4 per cent.
Mr Gibson says the State Government needs to admit it is a bad decision to press ahead with the dam.
“What we should be worried about is what the impact will be on this river,” he said.
“Let’s not be worried about the political spin that this Government keeps pushing out about how good this dam would be when clearly it doesn’t stack up.”
Mr Gibson says the Government needs to clear up the confusion.
“This further muddies those waters surrounding the proposed Traveston Crossing dam,” he said.
“What we need from this Government is an admission that they’ve got it wrong, an admission that the decision was a political decision to build this dam, not based on water security.”
Meanwhile, a former State Government employee is worried there will be recriminations against a bureaucrat over revelations about the proposed Traveston Crossing dam.
Conservationist Roger Currie says he was sacked by the EPA for speaking out against the dam and he is worried he will not be the last.
“We hope that person won’t be used as a scapegoat to pacify political outcomes,” he said.
Gympie Mayor Ron Dyne is also worried about the officer.
“I do feel very sorry for him,” he said.
Update on Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 09:19AM by
stevem
stevem
“Mary-gate” could cost us millions
9 Aug 2008
A multi-million dollar Fraser Coast industry could be flushed down the drain while the Great Sandy Strait runs dry.
That’s the loud and clear message Darryl Stewart received when he went face to face with the director general at the Department of Natural Resources and Water.
Mr Stewart, the chairman of the Greater Mary Association, says he was astounded when DG Scott Spencer dismissed a potential threat to Hervey Bay’s $150 million recreational fishing industry as “of no consequence”.
Update on Monday, August 11, 2008 at 07:26AM by
stevem
stevem
DNR DUMPS HERVEY BAY
The Director General of the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Mr Scott Spencer, is unconcerned if Hervey Bay suffers an economic downturn of $150 million a year if Traveston Crossing Dam is built.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister, Mr. Craig Wallace, who appeared totally disinterested throughout the whole meeting, Mr. Spencer was commenting on a statement from a formal delegation of the Greater Mary Association at the recent Community Cabinet meeting at Hervey Bay.
When informed that the EIS had estimated that recreational fishing was worth around $150 million per year to the economy of Hervey Bay and that this input would be at severe risk if the dam was built, Mr. Spencer said that this was of no consequence because that money would be spent elsewhere if recreational fishing suffered because of the dam.
When asked to explain that astounding observation, Mr. Spencer said that recreational fishing was not an industry – it was only a pastime and that recreational fishers would indulge their pastime and spend that money in any case, and in other places, if they did not fish out of Hervey Bay.
“That money will be spent anyway, but not necessarily here, that’s quite right,” he said. The Minister did not make any comment so was obviously in agreement with his DG.
“We could not believe our ears”, said the Chairman of the Greater Mary Association, Darryl Stewart. “Here was the most senior public servant in the Department of Natural Resources, in the presence of his Minister, saying that he did not care about the probable devastation of our fishing natural resources in Hervey Bay, let alone the loss of about $150 million to the Fraser Coast economy. And this does not include the commercial fishing industry either.”
“This is a stark example of the total disregard that the State Government and senior bureaucrats have for the Fraser Coast. It would seem that the entire Mary River system and all of its inhabitants are completely expendable in the interests of Brisbane,” said Mr. Stewart.
“The statement of the local member for Hervey Bay, Mr. McNamara, that he is ‘proud to be part of a government that will secure water supply for South East Queensland’, even at the expense of his own electorate, the ‘don’t care’ attitude of the Department of Natural Resources, and former premier Beattie’s promise that “we will build this dam whether feasible or not” shows that the Fraser Coast, its residents, its natural resources, its industries and pastimes and its future have been damned by the State Government,” he said.
“When is this government going to wake up to the fact that there are more viable, far cheaper, less damagingly invasive and non-rainfall dependent options than damming the Mary River. The science for the Traveston Crossing Dam just does not stack up,” said Mr. Stewart.
The Director General of the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Mr Scott Spencer, is unconcerned if Hervey Bay suffers an economic downturn of $150 million a year if Traveston Crossing Dam is built.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister, Mr. Craig Wallace, who appeared totally disinterested throughout the whole meeting, Mr. Spencer was commenting on a statement from a formal delegation of the Greater Mary Association at the recent Community Cabinet meeting at Hervey Bay.
When informed that the EIS had estimated that recreational fishing was worth around $150 million per year to the economy of Hervey Bay and that this input would be at severe risk if the dam was built, Mr. Spencer said that this was of no consequence because that money would be spent elsewhere if recreational fishing suffered because of the dam.
When asked to explain that astounding observation, Mr. Spencer said that recreational fishing was not an industry – it was only a pastime and that recreational fishers would indulge their pastime and spend that money in any case, and in other places, if they did not fish out of Hervey Bay.
“That money will be spent anyway, but not necessarily here, that’s quite right,” he said. The Minister did not make any comment so was obviously in agreement with his DG.
“We could not believe our ears”, said the Chairman of the Greater Mary Association, Darryl Stewart. “Here was the most senior public servant in the Department of Natural Resources, in the presence of his Minister, saying that he did not care about the probable devastation of our fishing natural resources in Hervey Bay, let alone the loss of about $150 million to the Fraser Coast economy. And this does not include the commercial fishing industry either.”
“This is a stark example of the total disregard that the State Government and senior bureaucrats have for the Fraser Coast. It would seem that the entire Mary River system and all of its inhabitants are completely expendable in the interests of Brisbane,” said Mr. Stewart.
“The statement of the local member for Hervey Bay, Mr. McNamara, that he is ‘proud to be part of a government that will secure water supply for South East Queensland’, even at the expense of his own electorate, the ‘don’t care’ attitude of the Department of Natural Resources, and former premier Beattie’s promise that “we will build this dam whether feasible or not” shows that the Fraser Coast, its residents, its natural resources, its industries and pastimes and its future have been damned by the State Government,” he said.
“When is this government going to wake up to the fact that there are more viable, far cheaper, less damagingly invasive and non-rainfall dependent options than damming the Mary River. The science for the Traveston Crossing Dam just does not stack up,” said Mr. Stewart.
| Quote: |
| MINISTER FUELS ‘MARYGATE’
“Methinks he doth protest too much”, was how the Chairman of the Greater Mary Association, Darryl Stewart, put it when commenting on the extraordinary media release distributed by Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation, Mr. McNamara. The Minister claimed that the letter written to Gympie Regional Council by the EPA in relation to sewerage discharge and asking Council to model the scenario that there would be zero flows in the Mary River as a result of Traveston Crossing Dam was “a mistake, pure and simple and that is as far as I will take it”, and then continued by trotting out the usual hype to justify the dam. “It is just unbelievable that a letter sent with the full authority of the EPA, with all of the inbuilt bureaucratic checks and balances, can be a mistake,” said Mr. Stewart. “It is quite obvious that the Minister is in serious damage control mode. The ‘Marygate’ fallout has started.” “While never an ideal situation, Gympie and thousands of other towns Australia wide have released treated effluent into nearby rivers for many years, licenced by, and under the supervision of, agencies like the EPA. If the Minister is so concerned about the Mary River, why is his department still condoning the practice ?” he asked. “The Minister actually reinforces the message in his department’s “mistake” letter by admitting that the Mary River will have to rely on inflows from its downstream tributaries to ensure healthy flows,” said Mr. Stewart. “It is painfully clear that the Minister has no idea of the hydrology of the Mary even though his whole electorate depends on it for its prosperity” he said. “If the flow in Tinana Creek is so healthy, why then does Sunwater have to continually pump water from the Mary River to Tinana Creek to ensure enough water for irrigation and urban supply ?” |
Update on Monday, August 11, 2008 at 07:29AM by
stevem
stevem
SunFish Queensland Fraser Coast
9th August 2008
Outrageous Government
“Outraged” is how Ray Ozich has described recreational anglers after reading comments by Scott Spencer from the Dept of Natural Resources and Mines. Mr Spencer basically said that Recreational Fishing and all the businesses that rely on it can “Go Jump”.
Mr Spencer was speaking on behalf of the Minister Craig Wallace at a meeting with the Greater Mary Association dealing with the Traveston Crossing Dam. He told members of the GMA that he didn’t give a damn [sic] about the $150million the local economy gains from recreational fishing and the associated tourism. If the Traveston dam ruins fishing in the Great Sandy Strait and the Fraser Coast region, then fishermen can go elsewhere, he was quoted as saying.
“I am sure all the bait and tackle shops, boat yards, outboard mechanics, boat hire businesses, charter boats, and accommodation places in the region would like to meet with Mr Spencer and Minister Wallace and change their minds by what ever means necessary” Mr Ozich fumed.
“We are sick and tired of successive politicians and bureaucrats treating us like second class citizens. This damn dam is just the latest in a long succession of acts by the Beattie and Bligh government that appear to either intentionally persecute recreational fishing, or seriously damage it with their “Don’t care” attitude.”
Sunfish was very critical of political interference in the process that developed the Great Sandy Marine Park where poor politics overrode good science. They believe the same pattern is happening again with the Traveston Dam where all the sound science proves that the dam will have more long-term financial and environmental costs than any benefits.
“The Recreational fishing industry in this region has not forgotten how Andrew McNamara’s interference in the Great Sandy Marine Park implementation resulted in a lot of restrictions being placed on anglers but very little being done to protect the more important environmental habitats in the Great Sandy Strait. Now Mr McNamara is doing it again by supporting a dam that he knows will decrease water flow into the Great Sandy Strait and damage the fish breeding cycles and the environment. And he is supposed to be the Minister for Sustainability?”
“We call on Mr McNamara to state publicly, what value he puts on Recreational Fishing and Tourism to the economy in this region?
How much damage will be done to Recreational Fishing, Tourism and the regional economy from the Traveston Dam?
What he is going to do to educate his ministerial colleague about the value of Recreational Fishing and Tourism in this region?
And when is he going to take a stand to start supporting recreational fishing in this region instead of persecuting it?” Mr Ozich concluded.
9th August 2008
Outrageous Government
“Outraged” is how Ray Ozich has described recreational anglers after reading comments by Scott Spencer from the Dept of Natural Resources and Mines. Mr Spencer basically said that Recreational Fishing and all the businesses that rely on it can “Go Jump”.
Mr Spencer was speaking on behalf of the Minister Craig Wallace at a meeting with the Greater Mary Association dealing with the Traveston Crossing Dam. He told members of the GMA that he didn’t give a damn [sic] about the $150million the local economy gains from recreational fishing and the associated tourism. If the Traveston dam ruins fishing in the Great Sandy Strait and the Fraser Coast region, then fishermen can go elsewhere, he was quoted as saying.
“I am sure all the bait and tackle shops, boat yards, outboard mechanics, boat hire businesses, charter boats, and accommodation places in the region would like to meet with Mr Spencer and Minister Wallace and change their minds by what ever means necessary” Mr Ozich fumed.
“We are sick and tired of successive politicians and bureaucrats treating us like second class citizens. This damn dam is just the latest in a long succession of acts by the Beattie and Bligh government that appear to either intentionally persecute recreational fishing, or seriously damage it with their “Don’t care” attitude.”
Sunfish was very critical of political interference in the process that developed the Great Sandy Marine Park where poor politics overrode good science. They believe the same pattern is happening again with the Traveston Dam where all the sound science proves that the dam will have more long-term financial and environmental costs than any benefits.
“The Recreational fishing industry in this region has not forgotten how Andrew McNamara’s interference in the Great Sandy Marine Park implementation resulted in a lot of restrictions being placed on anglers but very little being done to protect the more important environmental habitats in the Great Sandy Strait. Now Mr McNamara is doing it again by supporting a dam that he knows will decrease water flow into the Great Sandy Strait and damage the fish breeding cycles and the environment. And he is supposed to be the Minister for Sustainability?”
“We call on Mr McNamara to state publicly, what value he puts on Recreational Fishing and Tourism to the economy in this region?
How much damage will be done to Recreational Fishing, Tourism and the regional economy from the Traveston Dam?
What he is going to do to educate his ministerial colleague about the value of Recreational Fishing and Tourism in this region?
And when is he going to take a stand to start supporting recreational fishing in this region instead of persecuting it?” Mr Ozich concluded.
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Reader Comments (4)
pretty funny though.
They claim to leave 85% of the flow happening.
Not being a scientist I don't know how this will affect nature, but it must have some effect just as if I only had 85% of my blood flowing through my veins would effect me.
However it is not that simple. The 85% figure is total flow averaged over the years - which means in some years and months it will be flooding down the river over a full dam (not just flushed out to sea as a waste as Anna and her gang say) and others, like last year it may be dry - it is then that zero flow is a possibility.
The government has been proud to say, "If this dam had been built it would have filled 6, 7, or X number of times!" - does this also mean it would be emptied 5, 6 or X-1 number of times?
One of the many things they do not make clear is that the majority of the 85% flow of the river will be during the flooding times - ohh durr the river is a thousand times bigger during these events.
So when they get the next damful of water, is it emptied before they fill it again? or to put it another way,
How many damfulls of water can they get in one flood event?
I can only come up with the answer, "One damfull".
So where are they going to get all the other water they need to justify this expensive monstrosity?
ANSWER: DURING THE TIME WHEN THE RIVER IS A TRICKLE AND IN THE DRY AS WELL.
WILL THEY EVER HAVE ZERO FLOW?
Same answer as -
IS THE POPE A CATHOLIC?!!!
I hope this government never gets to regulate the amount of blood going through my veins.
"Good news Mr Watt, today we will be changing your blood 7 times - we believe you will need this for next week we are taking it all - but don't worry during this time your blood will be keeping all the other..."
Whatever.
15-8-08
This is an article by Andrew MacNamara - Minister for Sustaining Qld Government Cover-Ups and Betraying his Electorate of Hervey Bay, in the free local Hervey Bay newspaper.
Quote:
Matters of State with Andrew McNamara
Facts stack up for Mary River dam
There has been an abundance 'of name-calling, misinformation, scare-mongering, political point scoring and just plain silliness over the past weeks regarding the proposed Traveston Crossing dam.
I'd like to take this opportunity to state some facts.
There has never been an EPA report that projected zero flows of water below the proposed dam.
There was a letter, written by an administrative officer at the EPA to the Gympie Regional Council, that said if they were planning to put effluent into the river they should plan for zero flows as a result of the dam. The letter was a mistake, pure and simple.
The facts about the Traveston Crossing dam are, as they have long been, that Stage 1 will have taken less water from the Mary River by the time it reaches the ocean than is already being taken by irrigation and industry - just 4% on average each year.
As the dam will be more than 200km upstream from the river's mouth, with several major tributaries in between, it would not increase the silt flow of the Mary, a flow that is largely a result of land clearing throughout the catchment.
It will provide flood mitigation for Gympie by capturing some flood flow and releasing it at a lower rate, while still allowing plenty of flushing flows along the length of the river.
Even after the dam is built, the Mary will be the least utilised major river in Queensland. The dam will take only 70,000 million litres of water each year, leaving, on average, more than 2,200,000 billion litres of water flowing to the mouth of the river. Seventy-eight per cent of the river's catchment is downstream of the dam wall.
The Mary catchment was listed in a recent report as one of the regions in Queensland where rainfall will be least affected by climate change.
My position on the dam has never changed. I said that I would support it if the environmental impact statement stacked up. The EIS for Stage 1 does stack up.
Further stages of the dam are not projected to go head until 2035, and only then if required by demand.
Andrew McNamara Member for Hervey Bay
Andrew, if you're reading this, I have some comments...
Quote:
There has been an abundance 'of name-calling, misinformation, scare-mongering, political point scoring and just plain silliness over the past weeks regarding the proposed Traveston Crossing dam.
Yes - correct. Most of the name-calling, misinformation, political point scoring and just plain silliness has come from YOU! Calling Gympie Mayor Ron Dyne a liar re: the EPA report, which is now a matter of public record. You are an incompetent clown. Sue me for name-calling.
Quote:
There has never been an EPA report that projected zero flows of water below the proposed dam.
Dissembling. The EPA document talked about "reduced or no flow". It may have been in the form of a letter, not a report, but it was a formal response on behalf of the EPA to an application by the Gympie Regional Council.
Quote:
The letter was a mistake, pure and simple.
Well, No. It wasn't. The IQQM River flow modelling results, included as an appendix to the EIS, show that the flowrate at Fisherman's Pocket (monitoring node closest to, and just downstream of Gympie):
- will be zero - "0" - "the big O" - approximately 1% of the time
- will be less than 100ML per day (equivalent to about 10cm depth) over 35% of the time, and
- will be less than 350ML per day (equivalent to about 30cm depth) over 68% of the time.
Maybe that's why these results are hidden away in 6,000 pages of numerical data, in an obscure Appendix, with no summary information provided.
Quote:
The EIS for Stage 1 does stack up
Yes, about 1.5 metres high if you include the Appendices.
There are many other holes in your newspaper article, Minister McNamara, but this last one is my favourite. You claim to be taking the "opportunity to state some facts".
But you write:
Quote:
The dam will take only 70,000 million litres of water each year, leaving, on average, more than 2,200,000 billion litres of water flowing to the mouth of the river.
Somebody has their millions and billions confused, Andrew. Those big numbers can be hard, can't they? It reminds me - did you hear about the three Brazilian tourists who are going to cancel their fishing holiday to Hervey Bay this year? Go and ask your spin doctors to help you figure out how many is a Brazillion.