Put the shovel down
One of the constant themes around Emu Swamp Dam is that it is “shovel-ready” as opposed to the various other projects being considered under the RWA. This seems to be based on a misty-eyed view of the work undertaken by GBIP on the Emu Swamp Dam project over the past 3 years.
The Emu Swamp Dam project did not accumulate enough water allocations, particularly now we know that the sale by SDRC never went ahead. It did not get agreements to purchase all of the land in the dam footprint. It did not have enough pre-conditions to commence the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation process. And now it can no longer rely on the long-in-the-tooth Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) commenced in 2009, which I might add was paid for by we the ratepayers, and which was transferred to the Chamber of Commerce for free.
Tabled at Council’s meeting on Wednesday 12 April was a letter from the Coordinator-General, advising that the Coordinator-General’s evaluation report on Emu Swamp Dam, which included the EIS, lapsed on 1 April 2023. In the meeting Councillor McDonald asked the Mayor “The EIS has lapsed now, is that correct?” Mayor Pennisi responded “Yes”.
The Coordinator-General also stated that:
Should the project proceed in a similar form and scale, the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation process under the Planning Act 2016 is considered, at this time, the most appropriate approvals pathway to progress the project. This will also enable an updated environmental assessment against contemporary legislation. [my emphasis]
In March this year the Queensland Government passed legislation to strengthen the state’s environmental framework. One of the changes is that EISs will now only remain current for three years. After that, proponents can apply to extend the period. This update aims to avoid outdated information being relied upon for project proposals.
The EIS for the dam was commenced in 2009, with some additional work done in 2014. Approval was granted by the Queensland government in 2017. Given the new laws the old EIS was never likely to be acceptable, despite the apparent desperation to keep it on foot. James Lister’s question on notice reveals that “lawyers for Emu Swamp Dam” (which presumably means lawyers for an interested investor) have written to SunWater, unhappy that “SunWater has resisted engagement with Emu Swamp Dam, thereby risking the expiry of valuable and hard won approvals”, which must mean the EIS.
Emu Swamp Dam was never “shovel ready”. The developments over the past few weeks mean that it is, in practical terms, in about the same state of readiness as, for example, raising the dam wall at Storm King Dam or a pipeline from Connolly Dam. Approvals aside, once the project was costed at over a quarter of a billion dollars (nowhere near the estimated $84m) it was never “shovel-ready”.
The claims that have been made by the dam’s supporters, including the Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor, that this project has all of its approvals is simply untrue. But as we saw at the recent Council meeting you can never let truth stand in the way of Emu Swamp Dam.