1 December, 2015
Feds propose protection for Warkworth Sands Woodlands after NSW Government signs its death warrant
The day before the NSW Government approved the destruction of one of the last stands of Warkworth Sands Woodland, the Commonwealth Government quietly announced plans to list it as a critically endangered ecological community. [1]
“It’s about as useful as sending an ambulance to a funeral,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski said.
“Listing Warkworth Sands Woodland as a critically endangered ecological community under federal law should provide high-level protection for this rare ecosystem, but it will come too late for the forests Rio Tinto will now destroy to expand its Warwkworth-Mount Thorley coal mines.
“The NSW Government has already signed their death warrant.”
Last Thursday, November 26, the Commonwealth Department of Environment invited public comment on a proposal to list Warkworth Sands Woodland as an endangered ecological community under the federal law.
The following day, the NSW Government approved the Mount Thorley-Warkworth mine expansions in the Upper Hunter, allowing Rio Tinto to destroy 611 hectares of endangered ecological communities, including:
- Warkworth Sands Woodland (NSW Endangered Ecological Community)
- Central Hunter Grey Box–Ironbark Woodland (NSW Endangered Ecological Community)
- Central Hunter Valley Eucalypt Forest and Woodland (Federal Critically Endangered Ecological Community) [2]
“Such an extraordinary coincidence in timing raises questions about the federal and state governments’ failure to work together to protect our priceless natural assets,” Ms Smolski said.
“Was it the result of incompetence and a failure to communicate, or were these two events impeccably timed? Either way, someone needs to explain how this system has failed so completely.
“At every step, government agencies, Rio Tinto and events have combined to ensure this coal mine expansion goes ahead, whatever the cost.
"The expansion was rejected first by the Land and Environment Court, whose decision was upheld by the Supreme Court of NSW.
"The NSW Government then changed the law to ensure the proposal would be ushered through the planning system when submitted a second time. It has been an utter disgrace.”
REFERENCES
[1] Warkworth Sands Woodland of the Sydney Basin Bioregion ecological community www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/nominations/comment/warkworth-sands-woodland
[2] Federal Environment Department listed Central Hunter Valley Eucalypt Forest and Woodland as a Critically Endangered Ecological Community in May this year. Rio Tinto did not require federal approval to destroy 400 hectares of this woodland because the federal listing occurred after the development application was lodged. www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity.pl?id=130&status=Critically+Endangered
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Coal and gas
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