SIZE does matter, according to more than 100 concerned Redland residents who attended a meeting to ask questions about a proposed power plant to be fuelled by chicken manure at Mount Cotton on Sunday.
Residents said they were concerned there were no definitive dimensions for Cleveland Power's energy-producing incinerator on land owned by chicken giant Golden Cockerel in Hillview Crescent.
Questions were fielded by a panel of four, comprising former Redland councillor Toni Bowler, Mount Cotton resident Geoff Hillier, environmental activist Simon Baltais and environmental scientist Ian Bridge.
Cleveland Power's David Bray and local councillor Julie Talty, along with Redland City Council's new CEO Bill Lyon were not at the meeting.
Mr Bridge, the primary appellant in a 2007 appeal against the project, said the community had been left in the dark about the size of the plant and said questions remained about the quantity and type of emissions.
He said the original approved licence for the plant stipulated it would produce 5mW of power and the stack would be 30m high.
“But the size of the boilers and the size of the stack would suggest they were going to put a lot more fuel through,” Mr Bridge said.
He said other issues of concern for residents would be waste disposal, traffic and odours.
“We have no detail of where any waste products will end up or what type of trucks will be used to bring the chicken manure fuel to the plant,” he said.
“Through our 2007 appeal, we were able to get odour controls built into the licence and we forced Cleveland Power to store the fuel in a shed.
“When the plant fails or goes offline, that stockpile of manure will start to smell and we expect the plant to be offline about 70 per cent of the time initially,” he said.
Residents listened as former officer for the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection Earl Knudson said the state did not have the man power to patrol and monitor the incinerator.
“My concerns with this plant are odour and noise,” Mr Knudsen said.
“I spent most of my career as a regulator dealing with noise complaints, which represent about 80 per cent of complaints to state and local governments.
“I think it's gone this far through government that to put a complete stop on this project will be hard unless there is a mass protest and lots of people turn up in court.
“A class action is another option because I don't want to see Redlands become the chicken-poo capital of Australia,” Mr Knudsen said.
Former Redland councillor Toni Bowler urged residents to lobby state MPs, the council and launch court protests in an effort to get the matter returned to the public participation stage, forcing Cleveland Power to advertise and re-lodge a new town planning application.
Redlands MP Peter Dowling left the meeting after 45 minutes for another engagement.
As he was leaving, he told the meeting he felt he had been “set up”.
Barbara, a Mount Cotton resident, wanted to know how safe the plant was and what contingency plans were in place if there were an explosion.
Mount Cotton resident Sally asked when exact dimensions would be available and Peter Doyle asked about the balance of a “fighting fund”.
Another Mount Cotton local, Ross, told the meeting, Yatala residents had been protesting a similar project for 20 years to no avail.
Mount Cotton resident Amanda Wrigley called the meeting last week, after the power plant's developer, Cleveland Power, entered negotiations with Redland City Council.
The two parties are in court after council's December refusal to extend the plant's town planning application.
The case was adjourned for the negotiations, which are believed to be a precursor to Cleveland Power applying to the court for a “permissible change” to its original approved application.
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