SIX months after the Victorian Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny received the Inquiry and Advisory Committee’s report, she has found that the Goschen Rare Earth and Mineral Sands project will have acceptable environmental effects.
In a joint statement, the Victorian Government said there are strict environmental controls on the project, while enabling the state to become a global leader in the renewable energy supply chain.
“It’s crucial that we balance development with the environment and these approvals put in place safeguards to protect the environment, including vulnerable species and habitats,” Ms Kilkenny said.
A Victorian Government spokesperson identified that while the Environment Effects Statement (EES) process confirmed the project’s potential impacts are manageable and acceptable, further approval is still needed from the Department of Health, which regulates radiation exposure in Victoria.
The spokesperson did not address an enquiry to the parameters of acceptable impacts.
The Inquiry and Advisory Committee’s (IAC) report, VHM Limited’s EES and the submissions and documents tabled at the public hearing in April all were included in Ms Kilkenny’s preparation of her assessment of the environmental effects.
According to the IAC’s Inquiry report, VHM’s EES public exhibition “attracted 182 submissions, most of which opposed the project” but that upon consideration, “concluded there are no environmental impacts that preclude the Project proceeding”.
“The opposing submissions raised a broad range of concerns about environmental, health, amenity, social, agricultural and other impacts,” the IAC’s report said.
“These submitters included many landowners in the vicinity of the project who were also concerned about direct impacts on their properties and families.”
Ms Kilkenny’s assessment reads that the project has merit and potential for economic benefits for the region and Victoria but comes with some environmental effects that need to be mitigated and, in some cases, offset.
“I support the findings of the IAC that none of the environmental effects could or should prevent the project proceeding, provided the mitigation measures recommended by my assessment are implemented,” she wrote.
“It is my assessment that residual impacts on matters of national environmental significance protected under the EPBC Act are unlikely to be significant, providing sound implementation of my recommendations, including the mitigation measures as amended by the IAC and my assessment.”
Ms Kilkenny’s assessments’ scope was limited to the stand-alone project put forward within the EES, which has a project life of 20 to 25 years.
“I agree with the IAC that potential future expansion of the project would require approvals and potentially referral and assessment under the Environment Effects Act,” she wrote.
While the project has progressed to federal assessments and applications, Ms Kilkenny acknowledged the need for further survey work to gauge and manage environmental effects.
“The IAC made recommendations for further biodiversity survey work which I have refined through my assessment and in some instances, recommended additional biodiversity surveys,” she wrote.
“Consistent with the IAC, I find there is residual uncertainty about the exact extent of some effects on biodiversity values along some roads and intersections.
“There remains potential for threatened ecological values to be impacted without appropriate mitigation.
“Therefore, my assessment includes recommendations to address this through specific survey work for certain ecological values, to resolve the residual uncertainty and ensure avoidance and mitigation is effective.”
The Victorian Government spokesperson indicated the pending Work Plan and Mining Licence will determine how controls and conditions will be implemented and monitored at the site.
The spokesperson did not respond to an enquiry about the process to be undertaken if the controls and conditions are either not implemented or insufficient.
The complete assessment can be accessed at planning.vic.gov.au/environmental-assessments/browse-projects/goschen-mineral-sands-and-rare-earths-project
