AGL sought Victorian rule change to clear way for controversial gas terminal
The gas company AGL asked the Victorian government to change a wastewater policy that could be used to block the proposed Crib Point gas import terminal.
AGL made the request in a public submission on a draft environmental regulation. The company wants to build a 290 metre-long floating storage and regasification unit at Crib Point in Western Port Bay, 80km south-east of Melbourne.
The unit would use seawater as part of a heat exchange to convert shipments of imported liquid natural gas back into gas, but the discharged water would be 0.3C cooler than the ambient seawater and contain chlorine rates of 0.0005mg/L.
There is no declared safe level for chlorine in Australian marine environments, but the maximum safe concentration for freshwater is 0.003mg/L.
Conservationists and commercial fishing operations have raised concerns about risks the chlorine and thermal pollution could have on marine life. The proposed pipeline, which would run though an area of Ramsar-listed wetland, also poses a potential risk to birdlife.
AGL’s submission was lodged in June 2018, almost a year after company had announced that Crib Point was its preferred site. It opposed a number of sections in the draft State Environment Protection Policy (Waters) which it said would make operations more difficult for industry, particularly in the Latrobe Valley, and proposed that the policy be changed to “enable risk-based decision making about wastewater discharges within Victorian ports”.
The change was not adopted, leaving in place a 17-year-old provision which prevents the creation of any new wastewater release sites in areas deemed to be of high conservation significance, including Western Port, unless it “provides environmental benefits”.
Legal advice provided to Envi
ronment Victoria from Environment Justice Australia said the clause required that wastewater released into high conservation value areas fulfilled an environmental purpose, and it was not enough under the legislation that a release merely avoided causing harm.
On that basis, the advice said, “we consider that it is likely that the EPA [Environment Protection Authority] is prohibited from approving a new wastewater discharge” for the Crib Point project.
“It’s quite a significant hurdle for them and we are not sure why they are continuing to persist with the project,” the chief executive of Environment Victoria, Jono La Nauze, told Guardian Australia.
In a letter to Environment Victoria in May 2018, the EPA said it had not licensed any new wastewater discharge into areas of high conservation significance since the rule was introduced in 2002, but any new developments would be considered on a case-by-case basis.
AGL general manager of energy supply and origination, Phaedra Deckhart, said the company would not preempt the approvals process, but added: “We expect the application will demonstrate that we can satisfy the relevant environmental and other regulatory requirements for this project.”
Deckhart said the company recognised the project was in an “environmentally sensitive area” and was committed to ensuring it was “safe and environmentally responsible.”
The $250m project has become a key election issue in the lower-house seat of Flinders, with the health minister, Greg Hunt, the independent Julia Banks, the Labor candidate, Joshua Sinclair, and the Greens candidate, Nathan Lesslie, all saying they personally oppose the development.
All four candidates, along with hundreds of locals, were expected to attend a public meeting on how to stop the development in Balnarring on Wednesday night, but Hunt withdrew due to a competing ministerial commitment in Canberra.
This followed a speech by AGL’s chief executive, Brett Redman, at the Macquarie Australia Conference in Sydney on Tuesday, where he said the company’s growth plans, which included Crib Point, “depend on our social licence to operate”.
The project is going through state and commonwealth assessment processes. The environmental effect statement is expected to be opened for public comment in July.
“While this project has great potential, it’s critical we assess its impacts thoroughly, to protect the community and the environment,” said the Victorian environment, energy and climate change minister Lily D’Ambrosio.