By Joe Vialls
Staff at the secret US Omega facility in East Gippsland are worried about job security after a sudden Australian government decision to close the station by February unless alternate funding can be found.
Omega started transmitting in late 1982 after 13 years of objections from environmental and peace groups worried about the effects of the huge transmitter on the general public and about the possibility Omega would become a nuclear target in the event of a nuclear war.
After a fraudulent environmental impact assessment caused by incorrect information being provided by the US government, the transmitter was authorised to broadcast at 10,000 watts from its 450 metre tall radio mast. In reality, the power being radiated by Omega is in excess of half a million watts, more than 90% of which is radiated as a potentially catastrophic electromagnetic "ground wave" from Omega's huge underground copper aerial arrays.
Significant evidence exists in the United States that electromagnetic fields of this strength frequently cause genetic malformations, neurological disorders and cancers in both humans and animals. Similar very low frequency (VLF) projects have already been scrapped in the US because of outrage at the massive risks.
Despite the obvious danger to the people of Australia, this crucial information was withheld by the United States. Omega has now been transmitting unimpeded for a continuous period of nearly 12 years, with undisclosed effects on the Australian public.
Two months ago, for unexplained reasons, the Australian government prepared a notice to the United States government that the $50 million station would be closed unless alternate funding could be found. Thus the Australian decision is not final and could easily be overridden if the US government decides to pay the running costs.
Less than a week later the US government faxed a two-page message direct to members of the Australian Transport and Communication Department suggesting in the strongest terms that Omega remain open.
One reason cited was the requirement for the chain of Omega stations to continue providing meteorological data to the US. This came as a surprise to Australian Omega staff, who were led to believe such data was relayed via satellites. Not so. All data from more than 200,000 global balloon launches each year are relayed via the Omega stations direct to the US, allowing that nation direct and unique access to all global weather patterns.
Omega staff are also confused by the Australian government's reference to the station's "limited accuracy position fixing capability". The weak 10,000 watt "sky wave" is certainly of limited accuracy, but the massive "ground wave" provides position fixes as accurate as those derived from satellites. This is of critical importance for marine vessels, especially submarines travelling beneath the sea. One Omega employee described this distortion of information as "a political bluff".
The power of the ground wave has been logged by at least one independent radio expert in Victoria who has detected Omega signals coming out of the ground more than 100 km from the main transmitting mast, at 6 volts AC and with a current of 30 milliamps. This figure is between 10 and 100 times higher than those fields proved in the US to cause genetic malformations, neurological disorders and cancers in both humans and animals.
Proof of the massive power of the hitherto undisclosed ground wave is provided by the positioning of the monitoring consoles, which are located not at the Woodside transmitter itself but more than 30 km away in the Strzelecki Ranges, half way to greater Melbourne. If the consoles were positioned any closer to the transmitting mast, their circuitry would be swamped by the station's huge power output and they would be rendered useless.
Apparently Omega is to be shut down briefly during November for routine maintenance. It would be in the best interests of all Australians, and Victorians in particular, if the transmitter was never switched back on again.