Outcry over Olive Downs coal project delay

The Federal Government has been accused of dragging its feet on environmental approval for the Olive Downs coal mine, 40km south-east of Moranbah. Member for Keppel Brittany Lauga says hundreds of mining jobs are in limbo because of federal inaction in signing off on the Pembroke Resources project. However the federal Department of the Environment and Energy says it has had to ask for further details from the proponent after finding there was "insufficient information available" in the Queensland Coordinator-General’s evaluation report for the mine. A department spokeswoman said Pembroke Resources had provided the required information in late November and the approval decisions were expected early this year. Keppel MP Brittany Lauga. The Olive Downs coking coal project was approved by Queensland’s Coordinator General in May 2019 and received Environmental Authority from the State in October 2019. Ms Lauga said inaction at the federal level was delaying a new coal mine that would bring a $1 billion investment along with 500 full-time equivalent jobs during construction and about 1000 operational jobs. “I understand the project is ready to start construction within two months of receiving final approvals," she said. “I’m calling on the Federal Resources Minister Senator Matt Canavan to get these approvals sorted and more jobs flowing for Central Queenslanders.” The federal Department of the Environment and Energy says it must assess four components of the proposed Olive Downs coal project, with a total project disturbance footprint of about 16,300ha. They include the mine site and access road, water pipeline, electricity line and project rail spur. All four were determined controlled actions for likely significant impacts on listed threatened species and ecological communities. "The department considered there was insufficient information available in the Queensland Coordinator-General’s evaluation report (May 2019) to make an informed decision on whether or not to approve the projects," a spokeswoman said. This caused a delegate of the Minister to ‘stop the clock’ on the assessment processes and request further information from the proponent, including on impacts on ground and surface water. The department also required further information regarding impact assessments for the koala, greater glider, squatter pigeon (southern), ornamental snake and Australian painted snipe, the spokeswoman said. 'Disappointing' double-ups in process Ms Lauga said it was disappointing that the Federal Government was second-guessing the rigorous environmental assessment and approval granted by the Queensland Government for the Olive Downs project. “In 2013 the Federal Government claimed they would delegate environmental approvals to the states to create a one-stop-shop to ‘slash red tape and increase jobs and investment’," she said. “The sad reality is the Federal Government has taken more than six months to do something that’s supposed to take 30 days, and have used that time to re-do an approval process already completed by the Queensland Government. “The 2013 reforms were supposed to delegate more approvals to the states, but instead it seems they’re just duplicating work, costing proponents money and Queenslanders jobs.” https://www.i-q.net.au/civil-contractors/full-steam-ahead-for-isaac-downs-coal-project https://www.i-q.net.au/main/progress-for-1b-coal-mine-proposal

Outcry over Olive Downs coal project delay

Industry Queensland

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