Australian Minister of the Environment Sussan Ley has rejected a A$100 million (US$69.15 million) wind farm proposal in central Queensland on the grounds that it would clear old-growth forest important to vulnerable and threatened species, including the koala and greater glider.
Ley ruled the Lotus Creek wind farm, nearly 200km northwest of Rockhampton, was “clearly unacceptable” under national environment laws, in part because the site was home to species that were badly affected in other parts of the country during last summer’s catastrophic bushfires.
The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed the decision, saying no commercial project should leave biodiversity worse off, but it said that it came less than a month after Ley approved a coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin that would lead to the destruction of the habitat of threatened species.
The Lotus Creek proposal was to build 81 wind turbines over 48,000 hectares between Rockhampton and Mackay. The area includes 632 hectares of koala habitat, 340 hectares of greater glider habitat and 150 hectares of habitat for the vulnerable squatter pigeon.
Ley said that the number and density of nationally protected threatened species in the area, and its likely future value as a refuge for them, meant that the habitat was of unique quality.
It was considered unlikely that a suitable offset could be found if the land was cleared, she added.
The proponent, Epuron, could consider whether it wanted to modify its plans and apply again, Ley said.
“In this case, there was a clear presence of species whose populations have been impacted by bushfires and that was an important consideration,” she said.
Paul Stangroom, Epuron’s general manager of development for Queensland, said that the company was disappointed and would review the decision before deciding how to respond.
Businessman Graeme Samuel is leading a once-a-decade review of the laws under which Ley’s decision was made, the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
Ley and lawmakers have said that the review would focus on cutting “green tape” and speeding up approvals.
Conservationists and scientists have called for the act to be toughened or replaced, pointing to evidence the plight of Australia’s threatened species has worsened significantly since it was introduced 20 years ago.
Just 22 of 6,500 projects referred for approval under the act have been knocked back.
James Trezise, a nature policy analyst with the Australian Conservation Foundation, welcomed the rejection of the Lotus Creek wind farm, but he accused the government of not applying the same threshold when it approved the Olive Downs coking coal project last month.
He said that the mine development would destroy “eight times as much threatened species habitat, albeit of lower quality,” as the wind farm.
Announcing the coalmine’s approval on May 14, Ley said that the company, Pembroke Resources, had agreed to conditions, including that it donate A$1 million to improving long-term conservation of koalas and greater gliders in the Bowen Basin.
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