A small Western Australia wind farm that has become a bête noire for anti-renewables campaigners in the state has been waved through the EPBC queue by the federal environment minister, but with a raft of conditions.
The 20 turbine, 100 megawatt (MW) Scott River wind farm, is being proposed for construction in WA’s south-west region by SynergyRed, a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-owned gentailer Synergy.
The federal environment department has this week determined that the project doesn’t require the full treatment under the EPBC Act, provided it meets a list of five detailed conditions.
These include not exacerbating acid sulphate soils during construction, and making sure no moving parts are less than 59 metres above ground level to protect black cockatoos.
The blade tip height above the ground is higher than the originally proposed 40m, and the 50m suggested by an environmental report commissioned by developer SynergyRed.
The proposal from SynergyRed, the renewable arms of the state-owned electricity company Synergy, is to disturb 107 hectares of land but clear no more than 1 hectare within a 3597 ha footprint, which is 15km northeast of Augusta in the southern bread basket corner of Western Australia.
The turbines will be up to 250m tall.
The EPBC news that Scott River won’t be a controlled action was met by dismay by activists in the No Wind Turbines – Scott River Facebook group, who have long claimed the project will be an environmental disaster.
And yet the EPBC decision follows a similar view by the state’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in December.
The EPA decided not to assess the project because it too didn’t think the likely environmental effects will be “significant or unmitigated” enough.
The EBPC conditions however are stringent, compared with what is usually seen on federal decisions.
They range from limits on clearing, with no “potential” black cockatoo nesting trees or even vegetation within 10m of these to be cut down, restrictions on water extraction to protect wetlands, and a series of requirements to deal with the acid soils.
Acid-sulfate soils occur naturally in the region within about 3 metres of the surface and when they’re exposed can cause surface acidification.
This was a problem at the BHP Beenup Titanium Mineral Sands mine in the 1990s, which led to a costly rehabilitation program.
The legacy of that mine is behind some of the local skepticism that SynergyRed fully understands what it’s getting into, according to an attitudes survey commissioned by the developer for its development application.
However, SynergyRed’s initial work suggests it understands the risks as it has dewatering plans and a proposal to either ship any acid soils to facilities for treatment or heavy use of lime to counteract the sulphates.
The EPBC conditions make these official.
The developer will need to treat dewatering effluent when it reaches certain acidity benchmarks, and any water used for dust suppression will also need to be treated before being disposed well away from any rivers, wetlands or specific ecological areas.
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