Rail corridor approval peeves producers

Local landholders Eddie and Tricia Dennis, Old Twin Hills, have deep concerns about the rail line that would dissect their properties, and cause flooding and erosion.

"We really are not impressed, and although I haven't read through the environmental conditions, we have no confidence the government will enforce them," Mrs Dennis said.

Mrs Dennis said it was not the Carmichael mine on nearby Moray Downs that landholders were against, or the coal going to Abbot Point.

Instead it was the position of the rail corridor, which traverses about 33km through the Belyando River and Mistake Creek floodplains, that would cause problems, Mrs Dennis said.

"When we get a flood like we had in 2008, it will wash sections of the railway line away and cause extensive damage.

"If the rail corridor was positioned west of the Belyando, it would save the prime finishing country and cropping land."

The rail corridor, which will be 95 metres wide, will travel about 22km through the Dennis' cattle country.

"We will be disadvantaged as it will cut through paddocks and cut off existing cattle yards, and our country will be degraded," Mrs Dennis said.

The rail corridor will affect three of the Dennis family properties, cutting through the floodplains at Old Twin Hills. The corridor will also cut them off from much-needed water supply from Mistake Creek at Goodawada, and will bisect some 8000 hectares of floodplain country on Elgin Downs.

Fellow local landholder John Burnett, Bendemeer, holds similar sentiments, but conceded the decision was expected.

"There hasn't been any resistance to mining, but there is still not enough government input into regulations controlling the environmental effects of the mine," Mr Burnett said.

"We would still hope the long-term benefits to the state (including environmental outcomes) override the short-term benefit of an Indian mining company."