CENTRAL Highlands landholders have criticised the level of detail in the recently released Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) draft report for Bandanna Energy's Springsure Creek thermal coal proposal.
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They claim there is little to no information explaining how noise, road use and erosion will be managed by the project proponents.
Landholders say these information shortfalls make it difficult to accurately consider the true impacts from the mining project on their farmlands.
However, Bandanna has told Queensland Country Life that management plans were determined with affected landholders and regulatory agencies and these were generally not written during the initial EIS stage.
A spokesman for the company said prior to the EIS being approved, Bandanna would be required to submit a revised draft environmental plan along with draft environmental authority conditions for assessment as part of the approval process.
The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is currently collating the EIS response submissions, following the public notification period closing a fortnight ago, and will provide copies to Bandanna by Friday.
A Bandanna spokesman said that once the company had received copies of the submissions "Bandanna will be engaging directly with each person and/or agency that has made a submission to fully understand the issue or concerns, prior to responding to both submitters and EHP".
Bandanna's spokesman said because the company had yet to receive submissions from EHP, it would not speculate on individual submissions.
The conflict between farmers and miners over the level of information contained in the EIS document is the latest in a long-running dispute across the state over regulatory processes for environmental approval.
It seems everyone is in agreement that something has to change, but there have been few publicly released alternatives proposed.
With the bulky documents weighing up to 30kg and containing many thousands of pages, the EIS processes have long been a point of contention within the agriculture and resource sectors as well as academia.
Landholder groups argue that being expected to wade through thousands of pages, much of which contains detailed scientific data which has taken months or years for the resource companies to collate, impinges on the ability of farmers to have a reasonable say in the approval process.
However, as the Central Highlands case suggests, the information that landholders are required to assess in terms of the real impacts to their businesses and the plan to manage these impacts, does not necessarily have to be provided during the initial stages of consulting the public whilst seeking government approval.
Addressing the inaugural Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) CSG conference in Brisbane late last year, Professor Chris Moran, University of Queensland Sustainable Miner-als Institute director, called for an overhaul of the processes, claiming the current EIS framework focused on the amount of regulation rather than its appropriateness and enforceability.
Prof Moran said successfully locating specific information in the massive EIS documents was like "finding needles in haystacks". The sentiment is shared by the Newman government.
Queensland Country Life understands the State Government Resources Cabinet Committee is using two case studies to review the EIS processes as part of a wider consideration of resource sector matters.
However, landholders should not expect any significant movement from current legislation any time soon, with committee chairman and Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney previously telling QCL the EIS process was a "complex matter that will take significant time to study and consider any possible future changes".
The Resources Cabinet Committee, formed in September, also consists of Treasurer Tim Nicholls, Agriculture Minister John McVeigh, Environment Minister Andrew Powell, Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps, National Parks Minister Steve Dickson and Natural Resources and Mines Assistant Minister Lisa France.
Mr Cripps told QCL during his recent trip to Emerald to discuss issues around the Bandanna proposal that he believed the current EIS regulatory regime was impacting on the ability of landholders to "engage meaningfully" in the response process.
"But also I think it is impacting both ways," Mr Cripps said.
"Some of the thresholds being set for project proponents to meet the requirements of the EIS process are extremely onerous as well.
"We do need to simplify the process to ensure there is accessibility from the proponents' point of view as well as for those members of the community who wish to lodge legitimate objections.
"The process of streamlining that is under way and it is the capability of the departments to take on board the concerns raised by stakeholders and build it into the review process."
