![Greens MP Cate Faehrmann will head up a new committee, that will revisit the feasibility of undergrounding transmission lines. File photo. Greens MP Cate Faehrmann will head up a new committee, that will revisit the feasibility of undergrounding transmission lines. File photo.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/FkT3ZusFw5YrTvZCipmLUF/0195a044-578f-4247-99e8-2fbb284afadc.jpeg/r0_114_7360_4644_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A committee will be launched with the purpose of re-examining the issue of undergrounding power transmission.
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A previous report by the State Development Committee was resoundingly rejected by all non-government members and the community.
Greens MP Cate Faehrmann has been appointed Chair of the Inquiry.
"The fight to ensure transmission lines will be undergrounded, in line with expert evidence, including as part of the construction of Transgrid's Humelink will continue despite the sham inquiry controlled by Government members," Ms Faehrmann said.
"During the previous Inquiry, every witness we heard from, bar Transgrid, opposed overhead transmission lines.
"I'm expecting that this Inquiry will be able to forensically examine the cost and benefits of undergrounding transmission lines compared to building them as overhead lines."
NSW Farmers has welcomed the move,
NSW Farmers Energy Transition spokesman Reg Kidd said the first inquiry heard overwhelming support for undergrounding transmission lines, and opposition to the way the Humelink project in particular had been carried out to date.
"What we have is farms and communities facing the prospect of enormous power towers overhead, and officials who refuse to consider an alternative," Mr Kidd said.
"There has been a rushed effort from bureaucrats and developers determined to bulldoze their way through rather than recognise the impacts of their plans.
"We're moving from existing power stations on the coast, which are already connected to gridlines, to multiple inland sites in productive agricultural areas," Mr Kidd said.
"Out of sight, out of mind seems to have been the real reason to dismiss undergrounding, but if these things were being built in Manly or Marrickville I'm certain there would be a very different cost-benefit analysis.
Ms Faerhmann said one of the biggest benefits in the consideration of undergrounding, would be their propensity to withstand more frequent and extreme weather-related events like flooding and fires.
"It's clear that Transgrid has no social licence to build Humelink with overhead transmission lines yet the Government controlled the numbers to produce a report that made findings and recommendations to the contrary.
"The last Inquiry felt like a sham, with the Government having clearly made up its mind before we heard from a single stakeholder. This new Inquiry, which is not controlled by government, will ensure the community's concerns are genuinely heard and acted upon."
Mr Kidd said that NSW Farmers are hoping there will be a better outcome for regional people through the new committee.
"Hopefully we'll find a better way forward for the existing projects, and a far better process for any future projects," he said.