COAL seam gas miner QGC has denied it is seeking to weaken the environmental conditions set down for projects near Dalby on Queensland's Darling Downs.
In a statement issued this afternoon to Queensland Country Life, QGC said it was granted Environmental Authorities for the Ruby and Jordan Project Areas in May.
The company says all such decisions were subject to internal review and appeal rights under the Environmental Protection Act.
Stakeholders who commented on QGC's Environmental Authorities applications have had more than a month – the same amount of time as QGC – to apply to DERM for internal review of the decisions, the statement reads.
"QGC this week made its applications to ensure the final conditions are well defined, workable and reasonable," the statement reads.
"We are not seeking to weaken the conditions. We fully support conditions to protect the environment and allow our project to proceed as already approved by the State and Commonwealth Governments.
"In full transparency, we provided our internal review applications to stakeholders. They now have a further opportunity under the EP Act to make comments on our submissions. This is the established and accepted legal process under the Environmental Protection Act and QGC will abide by it.
"We are fully committed to complying with the more than 1500 conditions of our project approvals and conducting our activities in a manner that protects the environment."
QGC's statement follows claims by the Basin Sustainability Alliance (BSA) that landholders were alarmed at an attempt by QGC to weaken conditions in approvals granted for CSG development.
The BSA says the proposed changes, if accepted by the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), have the potential to adversely impact on landholders in the Western Downs, and set a precedent for gas projects throughout the state.
In an application to DERM, QCG stated it was dissatisfied with the conditions as granted and has sought to change a large number for its CSG activities in the Ruby and Jordan Project Areas. These areas together comprise of 236,300ha across regions such as Kupunn, Broadwater and Kumbarilla (near Dalby), Kogan and Hopelands.
BSA chairman Ian Hayllor said he was worried that most of the affected landholders would not even be aware of the review. Only those few landholders who submitted an application in October 2010 to DERM regarding QGC’s Environmental Management Plans for these areas will have been notified of the changes QGC is seeking, he said.
BSA, which represents the concerns of landholders and regional communities, has been given just five days to respond to the QGC’s bid to water down its environmental obligations.
“We are urging DERM to maintain stringent conditions and a cautious approach to an industry that still has insufficient information about its impact on groundwater systems. The process and timeframe for us to respond is totally inadequate and it would have been better if the company had taken the time to explain to its stakeholders the reason for the review.”
He said the Regional Groundwater Model for the Ruby and Jordan Project Areas was still being developed by the Queensland Water Commission.
“QGC is asking for some 50 conditions to be changed in both regions, at a time when government is still gathering the information needed to paint a clearer picture of the groundwater systems in the region.”
“Obviously QGC is a commercial business trying to find ways to keep its costs down, but we simply can’t afford to compromise the protection of our vital water and land resources.”
Mr Hayllor also voiced concern that weakening DERM’s conditions on one Environmental Authority could set precedence for other gas projects.
“What QGC is trying to achieve is to set the lowest common denominator of regulations and standards, our fear is that other developers will then gleefully follow.”
Mr Hayllor said that Geosciences Australia and the National Water Commission, two of Australia’s most respected authorities on groundwater management have called for a precautionary approach to the development of the CSG industry.
“Weakening the consent conditions before the full research and modelling has been completed is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse. It is scandalous to see our State rushing headlong into securing the short term dollar from an industry that could cause catastrophic damage to the very life-blood of rural Australia – our groundwater.”
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