KEY ASSUMPTIONS REQUIRE DEEPER SCRUTINY Dear Reader
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KEY ASSUMPTIONS REQUIRE DEEPER SCRUTINY Dear Reader, After reading this book, you may well feel like saying something to the people who are making these decisions. We have provided an e-letter which will enable you to communicate instantly with over 40 relevant decision makers in Federal, State and Local Government. Click here to go to the e-letter page. Fill in your details, add a comment, and submit. Tell them how you feel about it. Alternatively you can visit http:// www.lcit.com.au/moorebank-intermodals/ and click the e-letter link Acknowledgements Printing sponsored by Bright Print Group E-Letter provided by Otford Eco otfordeco.com 8-10 Frank Street, Wetherill Park NSW 2164 Australia Ph: 02 9757 3000 E: [email protected] Sincerest thanks to BPG and Otford Eco for their kind www.brightprintgroup.com.au and valuable assistance. MOOREBANK INTERMODALS KEY ASSUMPTIONS REQUIRE DEEPER SCRUTINY An informative and concise brief revealing the vast discrepancy between what you’ve been told and the real situation. Narelle van den Bos B.Sc. Syd, Dip.Ed. Liverpool Community Independents Team Post Office Box 77 Hoxton Park NSW 2171 www.lcit.com.au This publication is copyright. Other than for the purposes of and the subject of conditions prescribed under the Copyright Act, no part of it may in any form or by any means be reproduced without prior written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to [email protected] Disclaimer: All statements in this document are opinions only. Whilst all care has been taken in the preparation of this report, it is not intended to act as an authoritative source on the viability of any project. All documents and reports quoted, pictured and paraphrased have been dealt with in good faith and in the spirit of fair dealing as described in the Copyright Act. All interpretations are made in the sincere intention to present important information in an accessible, transparent manner. All information is correct to the best of our knowledge and belief at time of writing. Graphic Design by Cherie Saxby Printed by Bright Print Group 8-10 Frank Street Wetherill Park NSW 2164 Australia www.brightprintgroup.com.au Contents Introduction 2 Jobs 33 Employment Density 34 Executive Summary 2 1,250 hectares of employment land encouraged for warehousing 35 Basic Information 3 Jobs from an intermodal come with at least five times more trucks 36 Useful Definitions 4 Pollution 37 Liverpool in 2031 - Second most populous local government area in NSW 5 Liverpool pollution monitoring station was not compliant 38 Moorebank 6 Asthma-causing particle limits exceeded 39 Not just one, but two intermodals proposed for Moorebank 7 Cancer-causing particle limits exceeded 40 The Big Picture: Sydney Freight in 2031 8 Diesel exhaust emissions contain carcinogens 41 Existing and proposed intermodals in Sydney 9 Carcinogens are 100 to 1000 x higher from diesel engines 42 Cancer-causing particle studies (PM ) not necessary under Australian law 43 Containers not going to Moorebank Zone in 2031 10 2.5 Claims of reduced truck movements grossly exaggerated 11 SIMTA needs to redo pollution studies with at least 30 x more traffic 44 Do the Big Picture Figures Actually Make Sense? Environment 45 A Sanity Check 12 Endangered ecological communities and high biodiversity values 46 Georges River – One of Western Sydney's most valuable assets 47 SIMTA could generate 52,000 truck trips a day – not 2,600 13 Warehousing: Implications of Induced Traffic 15 Economics 48 $10 billion economic benefit actually $2.3 billion in today's terms 49 Warehousing and induced traffic 16 Community to underwrite fat profit for investors 50 NO traffic from other warehouses included in SIMTA's estimates! 17 Massive disbenefits to the community 51 Liverpool: Questionable Figures and Inadequate Studies 18 Economic information hidden from public 52 Physical difficulties with M5 access 19 More Economical, More Efficient Solutions: Hume Highway gains 27% of the Intermodals traffic 21 Intermodal traffic added to Sydney’s worst accident black spot 22 Eastern Creek 53 SIMTA Traffic study area excluded worst problems 23 Eastern Creek identified as best location in important studies 54 Trucks may tend to take inappropriate routes to avoid congestion 24 Eastern Creek: Cost of railway could be offset by significantly lower on-costs 55 Liverpool CBD and Hospital will be difficult to access 25 Eastern Creek: Important comparisons with Moorebank 56 What does “Level of Service F” mean? 26 More Economical, More Efficient Solutions: In a formal capacity, the traffic is already at Level of Service F 27 Port Kembla 57 Extended waiting times at traffic lights 28 Port Kembla and the Maldon-Dombarton rail link 58 You’ll have so many traffic problems, you won’t even notice us... 29 Finishing Maldon-Dombarton link is ¹⁄₇ the cost of M5 East duplication 59 Intersections in urgent need of upgrades now 30 Conclusion 60 Population Growth 31 Background growth of population not included in SIMTA estimates 32 MOOREBANK INTERMODALS KEY ASSUMPTIONS REQUIRE DEEPER SCRUTINY 1 Introduction Executive Summary History has proved that no situation can ever be The product of extensive research, this book has This whole book is the very briefest That jobs from an intermodal and warehousing advanced until ALL the facts have been squarely been over a year in the making. Each page explains of summaries. You are encouraged to come with many times more trucks than other faced and submitted to the analysis of reason. a different facet of the proposals. We explain simply kinds of jobs. how we came to our conclusions and reference all read it from cover to cover. In previous eras, decision makers had the luxury our statements with legitimate current reports. How the intemodals may carry a huge cost into the of time to marshal the facts and interrogate the It will be shown: future through increased cancers, asthmas, injury assumptions underlying any decision. Through this Some of the figures which have been hitherto That not one, but two intermodals are proposed for management and other health costs. method of scientific and logical reasoning, Australia presented as fact are deconstructed, thereby Moorebank. One proponent is a private consortium and the other is the Federal Government. Together earned a reputation for good governance. giving you the ability to see through the jargon and That disbenefits to the community do not appear to they could potentially produce more traffic than that technical language. have been properly studied, and how the community which travels daily over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. However in our era of the five-minute news may underwrite a large profit for investors by paying (Using one truck equals two passenger cars units.) cycle and the half-hour briefing cycle, decision You will see that this major infrastructure is for these costly disbenefits. makers are overstretched and overwhelmed with being delivered on flawed assumptions. That traffic flows from the intermodals have communications. Instead of being able to verify How pollution modelling based on the traffic We call on leaders at all levels of government to been grossly underestimated. We observe that information for themselves, they are forced to rely estimates has been grossly underestimated revisit the decision making process after more the developer's figures do not include a massive on summaries and bullet points from consultants. and does not reflect population growth. That extensive scientific information has been obtained predicted population growth. The background from which massive decisions are diesel exhaust contains 100 to 1000 times more and properly understood. made is reduced to a few sentences. carcinogens than exhaust from petrol. That That intermodals in Moorebank could not be func- Liverpool's pollution readings have exceeded Our economy needs another tional without extensive city-wide infrastructure This is treacherous territory when the material intermodal. However, Australia recommended limits for 9 out of the last 10 years. under consideration is complex and specialised, for investment. Particular challenges of geography and road access are identified. We note that 27% of the the decision maker may have no concepts of their deserves far better than badly located That the intermodals would impinge on residential traffic from the intermodals will be forced to use the own from which to critique the information. facilities that may haemorrhage areas and impair access to the Liverpool CBD and Hume Highway. It will pass through the worst acci- billions of dollars in infrastructure and the recently upgraded hospital. dent black spot in Sydney. This is the position in which we find ourselves with other costs, decade after decade, into the Moorebank Intermodals. A decision making That placing the intermodals at Moorebank would the future. That exaggerated claims of reduced truck move- process vital to the nation has bypassed counteract efforts to improve the health of the ments and economic benefits have been promoted the fundamental analysis of reason, and has Georges River. How there are endangered ecological Sources to the public. That economic information has been moved into the action phase based on flawed communities and threatened species on the sites. The sources for most of the figures in this hidden from the public. assumptions. publication are current government studies, That the intermodals would diminish the Casula plans, and statistical data. References are given How the traffic implications of intermodals in This book does not attempt to address every single Powerhouse Art Centre and Georges River Casula throughout. Moorebank have not been sufficiently studied. reason why the Intermodals are not suitable for Parklands. This includes the implications of induced traffic, Moorebank, and neither is it intended to act as an Additional calculations and modelling, where warehousing, rat running and levels of service.