Media release – Lake Pedder Restoration Inc, 5 June 2023
Restore Lake Pedder campaigners appeal ‘high risk’ Edgar Dam works.
Today on World Environment Day, the Lake Pedder Restoration Committee will appeal for the Edgar Dam ‘strengthening’, Division 3 Dam Works Permit to be reviewed, with confirmation the works site is territory for the endangered Tasmanian masked owl and an assessment for the neighbouring Scott’s Peak Dam still missing from the public arena.
Tasmanian Minister for Water, Hon. Jo Palmer has approved Hydro Tasmania’s proposal for ‘strengthening’ the high-risk Edgar Dam, having been provided insufficient and incomplete information.
The proposed works site is territory for the endangered Tasmanian masked owl. Citizen science monitoring has successfully recorded the magnificent endemic bird, but Entura, Hydro Tasmania’s Natural Values Consultant, have only reported evidence of the species dated from 2015 which appears to be found online, rather than sufficient onsite surveys.
The proposed Edgar works are the smaller forerunner of notoriously unsound Scott’s Peak dam. Scotts Peak was listed as ‘high risk’ along with the Edgar, as they are both built on the Edgar Fault line. The two dam projects must be assessed as a holistic project, not independently. Under the EPBC, it is a statutory requirement to consider whether a referral is part of a larger action, being undertaken by the same developer; and that if the development is found to be part of a larger action, a decision must then be made to either accept the referral, or not. It would be sensible for the Tasmanian Government to also assess the proposal in this manner. But the plans for Scott’s Peak Dam are not in the public arena.
The following quotes can be attributed to Christine Milne AO, Convenor Lake Pedder Restoration Inc.
“The choice is now to rebuild the Edgar dam and repair the Scotts Peak dam at a minimum of $100m or decommission them both, restore Lake Pedder and remove the flooding risk to residents below the dams. We have put the proposition that decommissioning is the cheapest and best option to the federal environment Minister Plibersek.
“Australia is still yet to nominate a flagship project for the UN’s decade on ecosystem restoration. When Hydro refer this proposal under the EPBC, it will be the perfect opportunity for Minister Plibersek to choose restoration, to give hope to future generations, over propping up terminal assets.”
The following quotes can be attributed to Tabatha Badger, Restore Pedder Campaign Coordinator.
“If basic surveys for endangered species such as the Tasmanian masked owl, cannot be adequately undertaken, what confidence can Tasmanians have in the rest of this proposal? There is simply no room for insufficient assessments when the failure of either dam impounding Pedder will have catastrophic consequences. It’s time to remove the risk altogether, and restore Lake Pedder
“Hydro Tasmania has an opportunity here to cement a contemporary innovative intergenerational legacy, by removing these two high risk dams and undertaking a world leading restoration project. It is the sensible economic and environmental decision to restore Lake Pedder.”
