COMPLAINTS to the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) in 2012 from landholders concerned about the Linc Energy Hopeland plant allegedly found one issue, a water cooler inappropriately attached in the kitchen.
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A presentation into the the lifespan of Linc Energy was given by Marland Law principal Tom Marland at the PRA conference.
Marland Law is leading a group action against Linc and the State of Queensland with more than 250 landowners now inside the 80,000 hectare excavation caution zone.
It has entered into a conditional litigation funding agreement with Woodsford Litigation Funding and JustKapital and negotiations are continuing.
Mr Marland said the group action wasn’t to prove land was contaminated, it was for exposing landowners.
“What we are suing the government for is for putting that line on the map (excavation caution zone)," he said.
“People that are affected say to me is it safe to live here and I say I don’t honestly know. We don’t know the extent of it, all we have got is this line on the map.”
Linc staff have told Mr Marland that when Linc received notice of a Department visit they would create a fake flare and turn the plant off to allow 24 hours to rid the air of contamination.
“Then when DERM came they wouldn’t leave the main office shed and Linc Energy did get a chip for having a water cooler in the kitchen inappropriately attached.”
Linc Energy operated from 1999 and 2013 with five gasifers established in that time.
It was during the second gasifier in 2007 that the high level of pressure fractured the rock beneath the land releasing chemicals into the air, soil and groundwater.
It allegedly caused gas to bubble on the surface and was covered in crusher dust while staff were forced to wear personal gas monitors.
It wasn’t until 2013 that government investigators seized files and digital records from the Linc Energy plant and corporate offices. The facility was closed down a month later.
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
