Environment and Conservation

Most of us chose to live in the Perth Hills because of the style of life the area offered, peace & tranquillity away from the urban sprawl in, or close to, villages in a rural setting.
Another advantage is the close proximity to native fauna & flora, common & otherwise.

When a new aircraft flight path is proposed there are many factors to be considered, not least of which are environmental & conservation concerns.

Interested parties proposing a new flight path, ie the new flight paths over the Perth Hills, have to deal with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) through their Office of Airspace Regulation (OAR). The organisation that implements flight paths is Airsevices Australia (ASA). A committee comprised of interested parties, including MP’s & Shire Councillors is formed. Its name in this case is the Perth Airport Noise Management Consultative Committee (PANMCC).

The following links are to the CASA website, in particular to the Office of Airspace Regulation (OAR).

http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/manuals/regulate/apm/form080.pdf

http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD:1096094412:pc=PC_90455

http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_91287      To access Form 1284 click on “Forms”, top right

The first is a form (Form 080) that has to be completed and submitted to OAR so that it can assess any proposed airspace changes that are likely to affect the environment to any extent. ie noise over populated areas, interaction with birds & animals, matters of National environmental significance.

The second is guidelines to assist in completing Form 080. The note (1) Aircraft Noise is of interest, including the supply of maps (no maps showing suburbs were issued to PANMCC) & the Conclusion. The note on Low Level Flying - anything under approx 35,000 ft - is particularly relevant as is the note about National Parks where people go for peace & quite - the new inbound flight path passes directly over the main recreation area of the John Forrest National Park & a new outbound flight path passes just to its north. (ASA actually states that noise is not a problem because the new flight path is over a National Park, so it would appear that that condition was not adhered to).        
The area is home to endangered species of Black Cockatoo’s, so the note on the interaction with birds & wild life should have been noted. Privacy could also be relevant as well as Vibration – people in the Roleystone area have complained of windows shaking.
Note: - 70db is twice as loud as a 60db sound level.

There is also a link to the Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999 & the EPBC Act Policy Statement 1.2 – Significant Impact Guidelines. (See - Aircraft Noise / Considerations / Significant Impact Guidelines).

The third link is to the OAR Airspace Change Manual with further links to Form 1284 which is an Airspace Change Proposal (APC) form. The answers to questions 6, 7, 8 & 9  plus the signed assessments required for questions 7 & 8 would also be of interest.
Question 6 concerns consultation with the community. There have never been any public meetings or adverts in the press. No mention can be found in the PANMCC minutes showing details of any specific flight paths over any particular suburb.
Questions 7 & 8 concern Risk & Environmental assessments & whether they were done or not.
Matters of environmental significance are covered in Question 9. This includes threatened & migratory species as outlined in EPBC Act 1999. As well as Baudin’s Black Cockatoo & the Forest Red Tailed Black Cockatoo the Western Rosella & the Red Cap Parrot are endangered / threatened species that visit the areas now affected by the new flight paths. It would appear that the EPBC Act has not been considered.

All in all due process seems to be lacking from an environmental & conservation perspective in this exercise.

The following link is to the WA Museums site concerning cockatoos

http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/cockatoocare/index.asp 

You will see that all 3 types are considered endangered, 2 of which, Baudin’s & Forest Red Tailed, visit the areas now affected by the new flight paths. Other endangered species in the area are the Western Rosella & the Red Capped Parrot; see

http://www.birdswa.com.au (Special Birds of the Region)