“I have no idea where the $1 million figure comes from – it was originally in a Courier-Mail report on this, which ran on Monday,” a Waratah spokesman said.
The newspaper reported that the $1 million bill from the federal government was to be used in a trust along with another $3 million from other mega mine proponents in central Queensland to protect the endangered finch.
“Waratah’s approval conditions from the federal government include setting aside 10,000 hectares and contributing $1 million to a fund the bird’s survival,” the newspaper reported.
The federal government’s conditional environmental approval documentation for the giant Galilee Basin coal project in December, with the approval lasting 60 years, did not specifically mention any million dollar figures either.
However, the threat to the finch was considered because there was potentially suitable habitat for it in the Bimblebox Nature Refuge located in the coal mining project area.
“Consequently, Waratah Coal were required to provide offsets for BTF and have worked closely with both state and Commonwealth government on their offsets package, which complies fully with the requirements of the state and Commonwealth offsets policies,” the spokesman told ICN.
“In addition to these requirements, Waratah Coal has committed to provide a voluntary offset for the Bimblebox Nature Refuge.”
Despite this consideration, there is yet to be any evidence the finch will be further endangered by the proposed coal mine.
“As part of the environmental impact assessment, Waratah Coal undertook a comprehensive assessment of black-throated finch (southern subspecies – Poephila cincta cincta) on and around their minesite,” he said.
“This included reviews of previous bird surveys by both Commonwealth and state agencies as well as non-government organisations – that is, Birds Australia and consultancy companies – on their minesite dating back to 1998 and a comprehensive survey program comprising 62 survey-person days solely dedicated to detecting BTF, undertaken in both wet and dry seasons.
“No BTF were detected during the extensive target survey program.
“None of the government and NGO survey activities undertaken since 1998 have detected BTF on or around the site either.”
The newspaper claimed that Palmer, the entrepreneur politician who owns Waratah, had previously said: “Fortunately, the black-throated finch has wings and can fly.”
The largely Chinese funded $A6.4 billion coal project in the rail-stranded Galilee Basin is targeting full export capacity of 40 million tonnes per annum of thermal coal in the 2016 financial year.
