10 reasons to stop Badgerys Creek airport

10 reasons to stop Badgerys Creek airport

1. Environmental pollution: the Badgerys Creek flight paths would traverse Warragamba Dam, which supplies most of Sydney's water. Dumped fuel, leaks or a plane crash could contaminate the dam. Vast numbers of people in their homes will also be at risk.

2. Noise pollution: noise and environment pollution will affect western Sydney's 1.7 million residents. The area west of Fairfield, which backs on to Badgerys Creek, is Sydney's fastest-growing residential area. If the noise maps for a Badgerys Creek airport are as inaccurate as those for the third runway at Kingsford Smith Airport, densely populated areas like Penrith, Blacktown, Liverpool, Fairfield and Cabramatta would all suffer excessive noise.

3. 24-hour pain: it is likely that there will be no curfew at Badgerys Creek — planes will fly in and out 24 hours a day.

4. Rigged environmental impact statement: the current EIS into the Badgerys Creek proposal — like others before it — did not give any site outside the Sydney basin detailed consideration. It did not consider the proximity of Badgerys to Sydney's water supply.

5. No consideration of other projects: the EIS did not consider simultaneous developments that will compound the environmental impact of Badgerys, such as large housing developments at Penrith Lakes and the Australian Defence Industries site near St Marys.

6. More roads and traffic congestion: the Badgerys Creek proposal would mean more motorways in a city already congested and polluted by road transport.

7. No solution to the problem of Kingsford Smith Airport: Badgerys Creek will serve as an overflow airport and will not replace Kingsford Smith Airport, so city residents' problems would continue.

8. Profits ahead of people's needs: the Badgerys Creek airport is another example of corporate interests being put ahead of the interests of the majority. Stopping Badgerys will send a strong message that if people join together they can stop other profit-driven destructive projects, like the Jabiluka mine in Kakadu National Park.

9. Alternatives do exist — airports out of the Sydney basin!: a 1985 Federal Airports Corporation study canvassed eight possible options for a new regional airport. An alternative which received considerable support from planners and local authorities was to locate a new airport on the Goulburn plateau, linked to Sydney and Canberra by a fast rail system. This and other options outside Sydney basin are worth reconsidering. People's quality of life must come before corporate profits.

10. If Badgerys Creek goes ahead, what disastrous development will be next?

From GLW issue 372