Xstrata Coal has responded to a damaging report on their proposed Balaclava Island Coal Export Terminal which claimed it could cause the extinction of the snubfin dolphin.
The company have attacked findings from the scientific assessment commissioned by the Fitzroy Basin Association, saying there was no way an accurate report could be completed until the terminal's environmental impact statement was released.
In a statement, Xstrata Coal said the statement would show minimal potential impacts from the project because of site selection, project size and design. They argued healthy inshore dolphin populations could be found in other ports nationally and internationally.
The company said additional mid-size bulk carriers moved slowly and were not a threat to dolphins and other marine mega-fauna. The total marine footprint of the project would be less than 1% of the total Fitzroy River Delta and Keppel Bay area.
The FBA report discussed the effect of the terminal on the ecosystem, from dredging, noise, dust, marine debris and possible contamination by oil and fuel. But Xstrata Coal said the terminal was designed to use existing shipping channels in the delta to minimise dredging.
They said there would be a modest increase in shipping traffic in Keppel Bay, with an average of one additional incoming and one outgoing ship daily. The terminal is one of the three coal projects proposed for Port Alma.
It is planned to ship thousands of tonnes of coal from the Bowen Basin by barges to ships anchored at sea, where the coal will be transferred. The terminal is currently in the feasibility stage of development and the environmental impact statement will be released for public comment later this year.
Xstrata Coal said its statement would include a detailed project description and the results of numerous scientific studies on the expected effects of the project, as well as plans to mitigate them.
They said they had had worked closely with the FBA over the past three years and the terminal's Community Reference Group met regularly to find solutions to issues.
Source - The Morning Bulletin
(www.steelguru.com)
