If you want to help save Ralphs Bay from Walker Corporation, if you believe there is no place for canal estates in Tasmania, consider joining the Ralphies on Friday morning to line the Bay during Walker’s drilling program.

We meet at the Lauderdale Hall at 7.30 a.m. (27th June 08) to display our Save Ralphs Bay message to local commuters, and Walker’s consultants.

Why not bring a small blue flag for the Bay or make your own sign?  Just make sure it’s polite …
None of us wants to be branded unreasonable!

For those supporters driving to work at that time, make sure you honk, flash your lights or wave to show you love Ralphs Bay, just the way it is.
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THE FIRST VIOLATION OF RALPHS BAY SANDFLATS

Just when you thought it was safe to believe Walker Corporation had perhaps seen the light on the Bay and decided to walk away from its unsustainable, unpopular canal estate plan, the developer is set to start eight weeks of core drilling this week.

Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) has issued a notice to mariners (The Mercury, public notices 21 June) advising that sediment sampling work on Ralphs Bay will begin Tuesday, 24 June.  Walker Corporation’s mailout to Lauderdale residents stated this work would begin last Friday.

According to the developer’s Impact Management Plan, a barge-mounted vibrating hammer corer and all terrain supercorer will shortly arrive on the fragile sandflats, drilling seventeen boreholes up to twenty metres deep in two phases between now and August.  These documents can be found at:  www.environment.gov.au

Queensland-based consultants, Cardno Pty Ltd, will be testing – on behalf of Walker Corporation as required under the RPDC guidelines – for heavy metals, including lead, mercury, zinc, copper, cadmium and arsenic.

NOT WORTH THE RISK

It is a matter of State and Commonwealth policy under the Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP) for Derwent Heavy Metals 2007 that these sediments remain in place.  In their current undisturbed state, these contaminated sediments pose no threat to aquatic or human health, nor to the health of the River Derwent.  Over time, it is believed, the river will heal itself, with our benign assistance in a process of ‘monitored natural recovery’.

The WQIP is online at:  www.derwentestuary.org.au

Ralphs Bay is also considered a high risk area for coastal acid sulphate soils.  These naturally occurring soils are a feature of estuarine systems, and peaty bogs and swamps in inland areas.  Acid sulphate soil damage is a hallmark of canal estates. Their disturbance and release has resulted in massive fish kills, poor water quality and damage to property interstate.  The significant ecological and economic cost of acid soils was a deciding factor in the New South Wales Canal Estate Ban (State Environment Protection Policy 50).  These ancient soils also pose no threat when left undisturbed and unexposed to air.

For more information on coastal acid sulphate soils go to: 
www.asris.csiro.au
www.ozcoasts.org.au

A LONG ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Save Ralphs Bay Inc. rejects the notion that any proposal to build a canal housing estate inside a bay of high conservation value – a bay that belongs to the people of Tasmania – is legitimate from any environmental, social or economic perspective.

We continue, however, to support the legitimacy of the RPDC’s work in assessing the Walker Corporation Project of State Significance (PoSS).  We remain committed to coordinating the most effective possible expert response to the developer’s Integrated Impact Statement (IIS) when it is released for public comment, most likely late this year or early 2009. 

To take on the vast resources of Walker Corporation and win, we will continue to need and be thankful for your support in the weeks and months ahead.

The Team at Save Ralphs Bay Inc.