Liza Balmain of Glendon Station, Nangwee, has drawn QSN’s attention to a critique of the ‘adaptive management’ approach to mopping up the deleterious effects of mining.
Australia’s ‘learning by doing’ approach to managing large mines is failing the environment
Published: June 4, 2024 6.06am AEST
“A fantastic article by Professors Matthew Currell & Adrian Werner, highlighting how ‘adaptive management’ – or learning by doing – is not appropriate for large coal and gas mining developments.
Despite ongoing monitoring, often the environmental damage is identified once it is too late, rendering the damage irreversible, especially in regards to groundwater where so much scientific uncertainty exists at the project approval stages.
Mechanisms and clear steps to prevent the damage from occurring or getting worse, when the red flags appear through monitoring and/or modelling upgrades, are abjectly lacking, as is ongoing consultation with affected stakeholders.
The Condamine Alluvium, which is at great risk from Arrow Energy’s Surat Gas Project, is a case in point. There appears to be no mechanisms or plans in place to prevent damage once impacts start to occur other than the wholly inadequate Make Good framework.
You cannot compensate your way out of destroying a critical water source, which is fundamental to agricultural production and town/residential water supplies on the Darling Downs.
As stated by the experts in this article, “more precautionary approaches should be adopted when there is a long interval between the mining activity and potentially irreversible damage.”
The Queensland Government needs to apply common sense to this situation, as they have done with the carbon capture and storage in the GAB proposals, and enact comprehensive watertight preventative measures to ensure this unique and existential water source is not subjected to the depletion and contamination harms it is likely to suffer once widespread CSG mining takes place.”
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