15 June 2018
Full impact of Snowy 2.0 must be assessed before its components are approved
The Federal Government must assess the environmental impacts of the whole of the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro proposal before granting approval for any of its component parts, the Nature Conservation Council says.
“Snowy 2.0 will have a major impact on matters of national environmental significance under federal law, so all stages of the development should be assessed according to those standards,” NCC CEO Kate Smolski said.
“It appears the government wants to skirt around these laws by splitting the project up into five stages, which would obscure the project’s full environmental impact until work was well underway.
“This is what mining companies do to avoid scrutiny of the cumulative impacts of their projects. It is not a tactic appropriate for use by a federal government agency.
“The five stages of Snowy 2.0 are not separate, they’re part of an integrated whole, so the impact of all stages should be assessed together.”
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Forests and wildlifePlanning and DevelopmentClimate and energy
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