Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has urged the Federal Environment Minister to put aside any emotionally driven arguments when he assesses the controversial Traveston Crossing Dam.
Peter Garrett, a former Australian Conservation Foundation president who passionately opposed the Franklin River dam in Tasmania in the 1980s, will now have to decide whether the $1.5 billion project goes ahead.
The State Government yesterday revealed its coordinator general had approved the plan to dam the Mary River, south of Gympie, subject to new conditions including environmental rehabilitation work.
As the Mary Valley community, conservationists and the State Opposition geared up for a new front in their long-running battle against the dam, the Bligh Government tried to portray the project as a win for the endangered species in the area.
"Ironically this dam could in fact, with these conditions, give these species their best chance (of survival)," Ms Bligh said, arguing farming practices posed a bigger threat.
The argument enraged dam opponents, with Liberal National Party leader John-Paul Langbroek labelling the project an "unmitigated social, economic and environmental disaster".
Conservationists who have launched legal action against the operators of the Paradise Dam near Bundaberg over its fish ladder argue the transfer device to move endangered lungfish does not work.
They insist another device proposed at the Traveston Crossing Dam site will fail to save the species.
Infrastructure Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said yesterday the fish ladder plan would be subject to further tests as part of the approval process.
But Mr Hinchliffe played down concerns over its effectiveness, saying the device at the Paradise Dam was "old technology".
"The report finds technically the design that's proposed works," he told brisbanetimes.com.au.
"This is the next generation of fish ladders."
Ms Bligh yesterday stood by her contentious dam plan, saying if it was not built the South-East Queensland region would require another two desalination plants or have to start drinking recycled water.
The Premier called on Mr Garrett to assess the dam’s ecological impacts "rationally and objectively, on the best science".
If approved by the end of the year, early construction work could begin in 2010, with completion expected by 2017, Ms Bligh said.
Greens leader Bob Brown said the Federal Government should put a stop to the dam.
"I don't believe Peter Garrett will support this project," he told reporters in Canberra.
"It can't be done. It just can't sensibly be done."
The Opposition's infrastructure spokesman, Gympie MP David Gibson, said locals affected by the dam were enduring a "stressful time".
Mr Gibson slammed the government for leaking the approval story to the media before it advised the local community.
"As usual, Anna Bligh is more interested in media headlines than worrying about the impacts of her decisions on people's lives," he said in a statement.
Mr Garrett has 30 days to make a decision once he receives the final report, but he can apply for an extension to properly consider the issues.
The former Midnight Oil frontman, in his maiden speech to parliament in 2004, said he was pleased environmentalists won their battle against the Franklin Dam in the 1980s.
"Thankfully, environmental organisations like the Australian Conservation Foundation have seen fit to contest plans by governments to allow oil exploration on the Great Barrier Reef, or to dam the Franklin River or, more recently, to destroy the rainforests of North Queensland," he said at the time.
"In due course those places became defining iconic sites drawing people from here and overseas to enjoy."
Despite his earlier environmental activism, Mr Garrett has enraged green groups in recent years by approving the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania, the dredging of Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay and the expansion of a South Australian uranium mine.
He has argued he must comply with federal legislation when he assesses projects.
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