Hallo to all Langebaners.
The Langebaan Ratepayers and Residents Association recently had
their first Executive Committee meeting where the allocation
of the various portfolios to the newly elected members took place.
The portfolios were allocated as follows:
Chairperson : Jaco Kotze – Environmental Affairs ,Economic and Spatial Development.
Vice Chair: Clement Matthews- Social Wellfare and Marketing
Secretary: Frans Palm-Local Goverment
Tresourer: Hannes Vermeulen: Housing and Law Enforcement
Additional members:
Miranda Matthews: -Social Welfare and Social Development
Roger Young – Social Welfare and Health Care
Jim Law- Infrastructure ,Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Anton Vonk- Marine Related Engineering
Coopted Members:
Johan Ackron- Environmental Affairs,Economic, Spatial &Development
Mel Richter- Infrastructure
Janine Potgieter- Marketing
Langefontein Wind Energy facility:
The Department of Environmental Affairs recently received yet
another application for the development of a wind energy facility
on the farm Langefontein east of the R27 well within the
West Coast National Park. The full extent of this facility
would cover approximately 700 hectares of pristine lowveldfynbos
and strandveld vegetation.I recently visited this area myself with
SANPARKS personnel to have a more hands on approach .We are of the
opinion that this is one of the most pristine and unspoiled
lowveldfynbos and strandveld vegetation in the area.It would be a
great pity to loose this unspoiled flora and most probably fauna too
for the next 25 years .The expected lifespan of the project could
exceed 25 years. I would categorically note that the Langebaan
Ratepayers and Residents Association are hugely in support of green wind energy generation on the condition that the location of such
facilities are not to the detriment and destruction of the existing
and pristine environment. In this specific case we are not of the
opinion that this site are the best location in terms of fauna and
flora preservation and therefor unfortunately cannot support this
specific application.The total lack of other alternatives identified
by the applicant in less environmentally sensitive areas are also
of grey concern. The development in this specific area would most
certainly cause an instant and total loss of sense of place with huge
80 meter turbines and even higher rotors (80 meters plus another 45
meters) totaling a staggering 120 meters into the West Coast
skies.The comment period on this application unfortunately closes on
Sunday ,13 February 2011.We as LRRA have commented on this
application in support of the West Coast National Park who opposed
the application .
Red Ion Ore Dust (FE2O3)
In the last edition of the Lagoon News ,Mr Pieter Stegmann in his
letter to the editor commented on the iron ore dust pollution in the
Saldanha area.He commented and i quote” Jaco Kotze has some weird
ideas on how to solve the dust pollution problem”.Neither did I ever
personally to date met Mr Stegmann nor did i to the best of my
knowledge publicly published any of the LRRA comments or solutions
except for during the formal comment period of the Environmental
Impact studies done during the Phase 1B application of expansion of
the port.I am therefor puzzled to which specific weird ideas he
refers to as most of our suggestions to mitigate the dust have been
successfully implemented during the construction phase of phase
1B.Some of the suggestions like a car wash bay to cleanse all
vehicles before leaving the port are now implemented as the
discoloring of the roads leading out of the port area are self
explaining.Dust covers over the conveyor belts to mitigate dust
pollution and curbs on road edges to prevent contaminated stormwater
runoffs ending up in the bay are but a few suggestions already
implemented in the port.We as the LRRA agree that the red dust
pollution has become a huge irritation and aesthetic nuisance to us
as community.We are intimately and constructively involved for at
least the past five years addressing this specific issue.I
personally as representative of the LRRA served on the Environmental
Monitoring Committee under the highly regarded chairmanship of
Professor Jan Gilomee for the past four years ,not only monitoring
the dust pollution problem ,but also actively participated in the
combat thereof. Due to a lack of space in this edition we would
rather like to give a comprehensive report regarding this matter in
the next edition of the Lagoon News.I am in a process to arrange a
site visit for Mr Stegmann at the port to give him a first hand
experience .This visit is subject to Transnet invitation and Mr
Stegmanns willingness to attend.Till next time
Jaco Kotze
Chairperson Langebaan Ratepayers and Residents Association
