http://www.queenslandtelegraph.com/calls-for-halt-to-gladstone-port-proposals/
By John Mikkelsen
A MAJOR national conservation group has called for a halt to planning approvals for further port expansion and dredging in Gladstone Harbour until an independent review can give its assessment of development impacts.
The review panel is conducting an investigation for the Federal Government and held meetings in Gladstone last week.
But it is not expected to report its findings until June 30, just outside the deadline originally sought by UNESCO following a delegates’ mission last year.
A halt to further development and dredging approvals was sought by The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) which criticised new development proposals while the review was in progress.
“Planning approval activity such as last week’s release of the channel duplication Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) guidelines continue without the benefit of the review’s report into the impacts of existing development,” the society’s campaign director Felicity Wishart said.
“The Newman Government can’t be much interested in the outcomes of the independent review if it is pushing ahead with fast-tracking industrial activity before the findings on development impacts is released.
“We know Gladstone Harbour and the reef are already under serious stress. Further port expansion, 12 million more cubic metres of dredging and increased shipping would speed up its decline.
“The Gladstone EIS guidelines navigate around the central question: How can you have millions of tonnes of dredge spoil dumped in World Heritage Area marine habitat around Gladstone and thousands more coal ships travelling through the reef every year without significant environmental harm?”
Ms Wishart said she had recently sailed down the Fitzroy Delta and The Narrows into Gladstone Harbour.
“The contrast between the pristine environment to the north and the degradation of the harbour environment is shocking,” she claimed.
