Lower Fitzroy River Infrastructure project Coordinator-General’s evaluation report on the environmental impact statement December 2016 The Department of State Development Copyright This publication is protected by the Copyright Act 1968. Licence This work is licensed to the Department of State Development under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 3.0 Australia licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit: http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/ You are free to copy, communicate and adapt this publication, as long as you attribute it as follows: © State of Queensland, Department of State Development, December 2016. The Queensland Government is committed to providing accessible services to Queenslanders of all cultural and linguistic backgrounds. If you have difficulty understanding this publication and need a translator, please call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) on telephone 131 450 and ask them to contact the Queensland Department of State Development on (07) 3452 7009. Disclaimer This report contains factual data, analysis, opinion and references to legislation. The Coordinator-General and the State of Queensland make no representations and give no warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose of such data, analysis, opinion or references. You should make your own enquiries and take appropriate advice on such matters. Neither the Coordinator-General nor the State of Queensland will be responsible for any loss or damage (including consequential loss) you may suffer from using or relying upon the content of this report. By using or relying on such information you agree to indemnify the Coordinator-General and the State of Queensland against any loss arising out of or in relation to your use or reliance. Copies of this publication are available on our website at www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au and further copies are available upon request to: Department of State Development PO Box 15009 City East, Queensland 4002. 1 William Street Brisbane Qld 4000 (Australia) Phone: 13QGOV (137468) Fax: 07 3220 6465 Email: [email protected] Web: www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au Contents Synopsis ....................................................................................................................... vi 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 2. About the project ................................................................................................. 2 2.1 The proponents ............................................................................................ 2 2.2 Project description ........................................................................................ 2 2.3 Project development stages ......................................................................... 5 2.4 Infrastructure requirements .......................................................................... 7 2.5 Project need ................................................................................................. 8 2.6 Dependencies and relationships with other projects .................................... 9 2.7 Project alternatives ..................................................................................... 10 2.8 Water infrastructure funding ....................................................................... 10 3. Environmental impact statement assessment process ................................. 11 3.1 Coordinated project declaration ................................................................. 11 3.2 Terms of reference ..................................................................................... 12 3.3 Review of the EIS ....................................................................................... 12 3.4 Additional information to the draft EIS ........................................................ 12 3.5 Review of the AEIS .................................................................................... 13 3.6 Commonwealth assessment ...................................................................... 13 4. Project approvals .............................................................................................. 15 4.1 State government approvals ...................................................................... 17 5. Evaluation of environmental impacts .............................................................. 19 5.1 Land ........................................................................................................... 19 5.2 Water resources ......................................................................................... 26 5.3 Water quality .............................................................................................. 33 5.4 Matters of state environmental significance ............................................... 43 5.5 Social impacts ............................................................................................ 68 5.6 Cultural heritage ......................................................................................... 74 5.7 Economic impacts ...................................................................................... 77 5.8 Traffic and transport ................................................................................... 80 5.9 Air quality ................................................................................................... 86 5.10 Waste management ................................................................................... 89 5.11 Noise and vibration .................................................................................... 90 5.12 Hazard and risk .......................................................................................... 93 6. Matters of national environmental significance ............................................. 97 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 97 6.2 Project description ...................................................................................... 97 6.3 Project location ........................................................................................... 98 6.4 World Heritage properties .......................................................................... 99 6.5 National Heritage places .......................................................................... 112 6.6 Listed threatened species and communities ............................................ 112 6.7 Listed migratory species .......................................................................... 141 Lower Fitzroy River Infrastructure project Coordinator-General’s evaluation report on the environmental impact statement - iii - 6.8 Principles of ecologically sustainable development ................................. 143 6.9 Coordinator-General’s overall conclusion ................................................ 144 7. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 148 Appendix 1. Imposed conditions—Eden Bann Weir ............................................. 150 Appendix 2. Imposed conditions—Rookwood Weir .............................................. 155 Appendix 3. Stated conditions—Eden Bann Weir ................................................. 159 Appendix 4. Stated conditions—Rookwood Weir .................................................. 164 Appendix 5. Recommended conditions for the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Energy ................................................................... 169 Appendix 6. Coordinator-General’s general recommendations—Eden Bann Weir ................................................................................................... 180 Appendix 7. Coordinator-General’s general recommendations—Rookwood Weir ................................................................................................... 185 Appendix 8. Proponents’ commitments ................................................................. 190 Appendix 9. Threat abatement plans, species recovery plans and conservation advices ......................................................................... 195 Appendix 10. Statement of Outstanding Universal Value—Great Barrier Reef ...... 207 Appendix 11. Facilitated Agricultural Development—technical note ....................... 213 Acronyms and abbreviations .................................................................................. 215 Glossary .................................................................................................................... 218 Figures Figure 2.1 Project location .......................................................................................... 4 Tables Table 4.1 Approvals required for the project to proceed .......................................... 15 Table 5.1 Project tenure .......................................................................................... 23 Table 5.2 Regulated vegetation within the project footprint ..................................... 44 Table 5.3 Protected flora species potentially occurring in the project area .............. 48 Table 5.4 NC Act listed bird species potentially occurring in the project area ......... 51 Table 5.5 NC Act listed mammal species potentially occurring in the project area .........................................................................................................