Locals launch last-ditch legal challenge in bid to stop Marinus Link

A group of north-west Tasmanian locals are backing a late stage appeal to stop the on-land sections of the Marinus Link project from going ahead. 

Burnie resident Carran Doolan is appealing planning permits for the two converter stations and a switching station in Heybridge, through the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TasCAT).

A loose collection of people in northern Tasmania under the name Tas Power Democracy is backing her, with a series of fundraisers and a rally on March 01, on South Burnie beach.

The appeal comes after the Burnie City Council gave the Heybridge site a permit in December last year, the final piece of key permitting that Marinus Link Pty Ltd (MLPL) needs to start construction on the $5 billion cable.

The appeal claims that permitting each part of the giant project separately prevented cumulative environmental and planning-related impact assessments, and that no permit should have been granted before a proper assessment of site contamination has been conducted. 

The site is the former Tioxide Australia plant, which produced titanium dioxide used in paints and plastics. After closing in 1998, it was used to store timber, and as a fire fighting training ground, all of which mean the land has traces of radioactive materials from the titanium ore, asbestos, forever chemical PFAS, and petroleum hydrocarbons. 

An MLPL spokesperson says the company welcomes appeals “appeals as part of a transparent and fair process, which makes sure our permit is evidence-based and well accepted across the community”. 

“As a normal step in the permitting process for a project of this scale, we have prepared for this and, at this stage, are not anticipating any significant schedule impacts,” they said in an emailed statement to Renew Economy.

“We’re continuing to progress the project, including various surveys and investigations as part of our Heybridge Shore Crossing approvals.”

The 750 megawatt (MW) single-cable Marinus Link project will be a second interconnector after Basslink between Tasmania and Victoria. 

It was originally supposed to allow the island state to be Australia’s “battery of the nation”, with two cables and a combined capacity of 1500 MW.

That idea is now being challenged by Hydro Tasmania, which says power from Victoria will also now be critical during periods of drought.

The whole project was cut in half in late 2023 in a deal between federal Labor and the Victoria and Tasmania state governments, in response to ballooning costs.

Tasmanians can’t afford the economic or environmental cost of Marinus Link, says Bob Brown Foundation patron Christine Milne.

“Tasmania does not need this project,” she told Renew Economy.

“The goal posts have moved so far [since the 2017 ‘Battery of the Nation’ idea] they’ve left the field.

“No one talks about battery of the nation now and no one seriously believes that Tasmania will make a serious contribution to the transition on the mainland. So they’ve moved it now to ‘were going to make a lot of money from arbitrage’.”

As for the Heybridge site, she says there are still serious questions to be answered over where the contaminated soil will go in Tasmania, and what impact dredging to connect the cable to the site will have on contaminated seabed.

Last ditch effort

The legal challenge comes late in the process for the Marinus project.

It already has all state and federal primary approvals, a greenlight from the energy regulator as to how much consumers will pay for it, the biggest ever financing deal by the national green bank, contractors locked in, and shovels standing ready to start construction. 

And yet aside from the state election last year when the Tasmania government signed off on the final investment decision (FID) during caretaking mode, this is one of the few times when Tasmanians have had a chance to weigh in on the process. 

The Victorian parts of the project were weighed under state and federal environmental processes and the undersea cable required federal sign off.

But the Heybridge shore crossing required state Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) assessment, and the converter station site needed Burnie City Council approval.

The TasCAT appeal against the two converter stations and switching station is part of the permitting process – one that has been removed in Victoria via the fast-track rules. 

And as a result, it is an outlet for pent up frustration about what governments are asking of Tasmanians for this project. 

“It is hard to imagine how most of the Parliamentarians can justify, with any conscience, forcing these massive projects and infrastructure and generational debt upon their constituents,” Doolan said in a statement. 

“This has been done without proper consultation, transparency, real discussion, or inclusion.”

She also said signing off on FID during caretaker mode was unfair.

“Full and open discussion was meant to happen before this major decision was forced during the caretaker period,” she said. 

“This is unethical. It shows great disrespect and disregard for Tasmanians.”

The issue of the financial cost to consumers was not far from her mind as well. 

Tasmania’s Marinus business case, reluctantly released by the Rockliff Liberal government in August when it signed off on the final investment decision (FID) alongside the Victoria and federal governments, shows industry will face a steep hike in network costs. 

According to the Whole-of-State Business Case, the current arrangements in the shareholders agreement between the three governments mean that Tasmanian customers will contribute 27.6 per cent of Marinus Link Stage 1’s revenue requirements, and Victorian customers 72.4 per cent.

Further, the report says Stage 1 Marinus Link and its supporting grid infrastructure the North West Transmission Development (NWTD) will increase transmission prices by an estimated $70 a year for a typical residential customer and up to $140 a year for a typical small business customer.

Ready to go

Only the TasCAT appeal now stands in the way of building the Marinus Link, as even early site preparation work has begun, according to MLPL.

The whole project includes high voltage direct current cables, fibre optic cables, a communications station, and converter stations at each end of the interconnector.

The new cables span 345 km, including 255 km of undersea cables across Bass Strait and 90 kilometres of underground cables in Gippsland, Victoria.

MLPL said in September last year that it has issued notices to proceed for its high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable and converter technology suppliers, Prysmian Powerlink and Hitachi Energy, who will now finalise engineering designs and commence pre-construction activities.

Earlier this month, the Australian Energy Regulator set the cost to be carried by consumers at $3.4 billion, or $27.8 million less than the most recent amount pitched by the huge project’s developers.

It approved proposed capital expenditure of $3,470.6 million for Stage 1 – the single 750 MW cable. 

MLPL is still reserving the right to build the second cable at some stage in the future. 

The interconnector has a target start date of 2030.

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