REGIONAL WATER SUPPLY
We always knew that the hundreds of promised mitigation measures The undertaking of those mitigation measures is a condition of consent, so any failure to do so constitutes a breach of consent, which we are told is a criminal offence. The proponent of the Regional Water Supply project is North Coast Water (NCW), a business unit of Clarence Valley Council. Unfortunately, the organisation whose job it is to monitor and ensure compliance with the conditions of consent is also Clarence Valley Council, which is unlikely to take itself to court.
The 1999 EIS, and the Access Road DA, assured the public that rehabilitation of earthen embankments and road batters would be undertaken by planting local native grasses. The pipeline and access road we were told: "...would be planted with native grasses to prevent soil erosion. Species may include Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra), Mat Rushes (Lomandra species), Plumegrass (Dichelachne crinita) and Wallaby Grass (Danthonia species). This is just one of five similar statements made in the EIS and access road DA.
The reason so much emphasis was placed on the planting of native species was, in part, due to Department of Environment and Conservation's concerns that exotic grasses could be introduced into the generally pristine Chambigne Nature Reserve, and invasion by exotic grasses has now been listed under the Threatened Species Conservation Act as a key threatening process.
All the above recommended species do occur at the site, and NCW has had six years to collect seed, so the subsequent use of an exotic millet species for roadside bank stabilisation is a clear breach of the EIS commitment, and the proponent once again thumbing their noses at authority.
To pre-empt the popular claim that only sterile varieties are used, we collected and germinated seed from the millet, proving the species is neither native nor sterile. All that information was passed on to relevant interested parties. Clarence Valley Council has informed us that no action will be taken, responding to our claims by stating: "Your reference to page 91 of the Access Road SEE while correct when viewed in isolation needs to be considered in conjunction with comments on page 69 of the SEE dot point 11 of "a) Erosion and Sedimentation". There is a conflict of terminology used in these points with one referring to 'sterile native grasses' and the other to 'fast growing plants such as grasses'."
The suggestion that the page 91 quote was viewed in isolation is rubbish. The letter to Council included all five quotes from the EIS and DA, all referring to, and even naming native species. Nowhere in any of the documents do exotic species, sterile or otherwise, get a mention.
The Department of Environment and Conservation, whose concerns led to the proposed planting of only native species, have declined to comment, and the planting of the millet continues unabated.
-John Edwards
outlined in the Regional Water Supply's EIS and other documents, would not eventuate. Some developers will promise the earth in order to get their proposals approved, and North Coast Water has shown time and again that promises are there to be broken. Since work began on the Shannon Creek dam early last September, literally dozens of promised mitigation measures have been ignored.