CXY 0.00% 0.3¢ cougar energy limited

kingaroy eis

  1. 1,312 Posts.
    lightbulb Created with Sketch. 626
    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/usg-approval-system-inadequate-ombudsman-20120926-26k80.html

    Queensland's ombudsman has criticised approval processes for an underground coal gasification (UCG) project that contaminated groundwater.
    Cougar Energy's $550 million trial UCG project at Kingaroy, the state's southeast, was shut down by the Department of Environment and Resource Management in January 2011.
    The move came after cancer-causing chemicals were found in bore water at the site in 2010, when the Labor government was in power.
    In a report released today, Ombudsman Phil Clarke said he was concerned state agencies that approved the trial did not order an environmental impact statement.
    Advertisement
    He found policies and procedures did not adequately guide officers on what was the appropriate assessment level for the UCG trial, given it was an emerging technology.
    The technology, which involves burning coal underground to produce gas, had potentially significant or highly uncertain environmental impacts, Mr Clarke said.
    Yet there were conflicting guidelines about the need for an environmental impact statement to be carried out, he found.
    Mr Clarke recommended the environment department develop better guidelines around applications for novel or emerging technologies.
    "I am concerned that the procedural framework does not sufficiently provide for the mineral development licence activities that have a potentially significant or highly uncertain environmental impact," he wrote.
    "In my view the policy is inadequate to provide environmental protection is such situations."
    He also questioned how agencies came to form the view that no EIS was necessary.
    While ambiguity could have contributed to that situation, he said it was not clear that sufficient consideration was given to "the expected high level of impact on a range of environmental values".
    He made particular note of one set of guidelines that required only large mineral projects of state or national significance to undergo an EIS process.
    "I consider that in certain circumstances this test is simply too high and does not adequately account for a mineral development licence, albeit one of a small scale, that has the potential to have significant environmental impact or where its impacts are sufficiently uncertain," he said.
    Mr Clarke's report did not specifically look at contamination incident, just the administration processes that surround the project's application processes.
    Cougar has taken legal action against the state government over the shut down of its Kingaroy project.
    It claims there was no evidence of any environmental harm, and is seeking damages from the government and several environment department officials over the closure.
    It's also appealing a recent ruling by Queensland's Planning and Environment Court that the company continue to decommission the project.
 
watchlist Created with Sketch. Add CXY (ASX) to my watchlist

Currently unlisted public company.

arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch. arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch.