MEDIA RELEASE September 20th, 2009
Claims made by the Queensland Premier, Ms Anna Bligh, that the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam near Gympie in the state's southeast will save threatened species like the Mary River cod, Mary River turtle and Australian lungfish from farmer-induced extinction have outraged people across Queensland.
The Save the Mary River Coordinating Group President, Glenda Pickersgill said by far the greatest threat to these species survival is building more dams and spillways.
Horse riders from as far away as Beaudesert, Stanmore and Ararat travelled to the Mary Valley this weekend to join several hundred protestors in the Kandanga 1000 horse rally, an annual event planned to continue long after the fight to stop the dam is won as a celebration of the splendor, beauty and fertility of the Mary Valley.
The 20km trail ride meandered through forestry trails, along the tranquil streams that feed the Mary River with its abundant wildlife, and around the productive farmlands of the magnificent Mary Valley, much of which would be lost forever should the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam be built.
Funds raised this year are all donated to assist the Paradise dam court case where Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council is seeking to investigate the failure of the Queensland Government to protect species threatened by the Paradise Dam which has direct implications for the controversial Traveston Crossing Dam. Burnett Water, the respondent is owned by SunWater Ltd a government owned corporation.
The federal court case was adjourned till 9th November after evidence was presented that SunWater Ltd had applied to the Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett for a decision to change the conditions for protecting lungfish on Paradise Dam.
Ms Pickersgill said it has been revealed that $24 million of taxpayers money has been spent on a fishway at Paradise dam that has shifted only three tagged lungfish in the last three years.
"How can anyone have faith in applying conditions when they include totally untested and unproven methods? How can you interpret the request to change the conditions as anything other than an admission of failure to meet them?”
Ms Pickersgill said, "The government is also promising something that it cannot deliver with the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam. In order to get the water for 800,000 people the premier claims would be available, the government's own modelling shows that the river downstream of the dam could be run dry for up to 6 months at a time.
"The original $1.59 billion project doesn't include the associated pipeline costs, or the blowouts of $100m on land purchasing already. The proposed Traveston Crossing dam is not a reliable water supply in a drought and more expensive than catching water where it falls, implementing water efficiencies in the household or even desalination run on renewable energy like in Western Australia.
"Because of its small volume, shallowness and associated high evaporation and seepage losses, it would empty very quickly in a drought - providing about 18 months at best. Like a shallow saucer left out in the backyard it would fill very easily when it rains, but provide no useful water storage at all when things get dry."
Just last week, the state government released draft conditions on the proposed Traveston crossing Dam to the federal environment minister's department for comment. Although the Premier is claiming a "green light", it is far from it with the Coordinator General's draft report not being available for any critic of the detail.
Ms Pickersgill said, "The timing is clearly linked to the court case over Paradise Dam".
"We are calling on the federal environment minister, Peter Garrett to grant a public submission period as part of the federal assessment process as there has been no community consultation on the proposed mitigation measures throughout the state EIS process to date."
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Contacts for Media: David Kreutz mb 0432683147, Glenda Pickersgill 0411 443 589, Roger Currie (WWBCC) 044 891 7571
