Save the Tarkine has expressed disbelief that the EPA has today ticked off on Venture Minerals Riley Creek strip mine in the Tarkine despite the proponent’s documentation clearly failing to meet the requirements outline in the assessment guidelines.
The assessment guidelines clearly required the Riley Creek strip mine proposal’s impacts to be considered against the cumulative impact of Venture Minerals’ three proposed mines in the southern Tarkine.
So far only the Riley Creek documentation has been submitted for assessment, making the proper assessment of cumulative impacts impossible.
“This is laughable and the EPA has lost all credibility as a body to assess the impacts of major projects,” said Save the Tarkine Campaign Coordinator, Scott Jordan.
“The proposed permit conditions place no requirements to protect the Tasmanian devil, other than submitting a report on how many have been killed”.
“And as with the previous Nelson Bay River approval, the company has been asked to submit a Decommissioning and Rehabilitation Plan after the mining has commenced,”
“Federal Minister Tony Burke must now admit that trusting the Tasmanian Government to conduct assessments in his stead was a mistake, and recall the Venture Minerals projects for a proper federally managed assessment”.
Save the Tarkine will continue to campaign against the Venture Minerals proposed mines.
• Bob Brown: Riley Creek mine. Forest deal undermined
• Paul O’Halloran: Sum of Tarkine mines is bigger than its parts
