“the tragic demise of the Bairnsdale bats is another warning that our warming planet is more than an environmental problem”.
Read the full article at Peter’s website here: http://petergardner.info/2019/02/more-on-bairnsdales-bat-die-off/
All posts by GEG
Bairnsdale’s Bats and the Climate Emergency
“The heatwaves and the fatalities of the flying fox are a wake-up call for Gippslanders. For if the bats are wiped out then we are next on the list. DELWP, along with our coal generators, carries a substantial amount of responsibility for the climate emergency, as do we all. The flying fox fatalities are just another reminder that urgent action on climate change is needed now.”
http://petergardner.info/2019/01/bairnsdales-bats-and-the-climate-emergency/
GEG in the Media: Mt Alfred Logging Coupe
Louise on ABC Radio
Robyn on ABC Radio
Media Release: VICTORIAN ENVIRONMENT MINISTER FAILS TO PROTECT ENDANGERED GREATER GLIDERS NEAR BAIRNSDALE
“Gippsland Environment Group (GEG) is alarmed at the failure of the Minister for the Environment Lily D’Ambrosio and DELWP to prevent the destruction of Greater Gliders and critical habitat in the foothills north-west of Bairnsdale despite knowing of their presence for over a year…”
Download the full media release here:
GEG media 23.10.18 Environment Minister fails to protect endangered Greater gliders near Bairnsdale (PDF format)
Images of the Stoney Creek Rd coupe
Bat Rescue & Care Workshop – Sat 22nd Sept
Media Release: NEW LICENCE TO EXPAND OLD TAILINGS DAM THREATENS TAMBO RIVER – 1 August 2018
“Gippsland Environment Group has condemned the Victorian Government’s decision to grant a mining infrastructure licence to WHSP Stockman Pty Ltd to reopen and expand the old Benambra mine tailings storage facility located on the headwaters of the Tambo River.”
Click here to see the full media release (PDF format)
GEG media re Stockman tailings dam licence approval 1.8.2018
COMMUNITY RALLY AT DELWP BAIRNSDALE FOR GREATER PROTECTION OF BIODIVERSITY IN PLANNED BURNS
Thursday 17th May 2018
COMMUNITY RALLY AT DELWP BAIRNSDALE FOR GREATER PROTECTION OF BIODIVERSITY IN PLANNED BURNS
On Wednesday 16th May a crowd of more than fifty people gathered outside the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) office at Bairnsdale to protest at DELWP’s failure to protect threatened species and ecosystems from the impact of planned burns.
The rally organised by Gippsland Environment Group (GEG) was also attended by various community environment groups and concerned individuals. People come from all over East Gippsland highlighting the widespread concern felt by locals over DELWP’s planned burn program. A phalanx of people and placards lined the highway outside the DELWP offices then proceeded peacefully to the main entrance.
Mr John Hermans, President of GEG, read out a letter detailing key concerns and a list of demands and handed it to Mr Chris Stephenson Assistant Chief Fire Officer Gippsland region. The letter has also been sent to the Minister forEnvironment and Climate Change Lily DÁmbrosio and Chief Fire Officer DELWP Darrin McKenzie.
In light of the severity of the ongoing dry season experienced by East Gippsland GEG requested that the Minister directs DELWP to halt any further planned burns in Gippsland and East Gippsland this autumn. In addition GEG requested that the State Government:
· implements mandatory, consistent state-wide protection for threatened species including the nationally endangered Greater Glider, from the impact of planned burns
· undertakes a review of the environmental impact of DELWP’s hazardous trees program
· increases funding for biodiversity surveying, and updating the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas database
· increases numbers of biodiversity staff to conduct on-ground flora and fauna assessments pre and post-burn;
· increases numbers of biodiversity staff to conduct on-ground flora and fauna assessments pre and post-burn; · and directs the EPA to install air quality monitors in Gippsland and East Gippsland east of the La Trobe valley.
“Australia has one of the worst extinction records on the planet,” said Mr John Hermans, President GEG. “Just last week another 40 species were added to Australia’s endangered list which now numbers almost 2000 species.”
“In Gippsland GEG’s citizen science surveys repeatedly find threatened species in areas scheduled for planned burns that DELWP were completely unaware of because they simply do not undertake any surveys. When species records are reported to local DELWP little to nothing is done to ensure species are protected’’
“In fact biodiversity protection across the state appears to be an ad hoc affair with mitigation measures for planned burns varying considerably between the regions. For instance we have recorded a number of the nationally endangered Greater Glider in Mt Alfred State Forest in planned burns. The population of the Greater Glider has crashed in recent decades and planned burns are one of the key causes. But DELWP Bairnsdale does not exclude Glider sites from burning even though in other areas of Victoria such as Wombat State Forest Midlands DELWP has avoided burning this year around known Glider records during the breeding season.”
“Similarly with the endangered Powerful Owl which in South Gippsland is completely protected from planned burns during their breeding season. However in the Gippsland forest region DELWP only excludes fire from a radius of 250m around a nest site. Powerful owls depend on 2-3,000ha of good quality i.e. unburnt habitat to hunt in when raising young. No food, no offspring!”
“We could provide many examples where burn plans have ignored significant flora and fauna values. At present DELWP’s planned burning program is contributing to the loss of endangered species and habitats right across Gippsland and East Gippsland,” continued Mr Hermans. “It’s time the State Government prioritised biodiversity protection before DELWP incinerates what’s left of biodiversity in the region.’’
Media contact:
Louise Crisp Secretary
Gippsland Environment Group
lcrisp@bipond.com
Media release – 16th March 2018 – Mining licence application on Tambo River must be rejected
Friday 16th March 2018
Mining licence application to expand dangerous tailings dam on Tambo River must be rejected.
Gippsland Environment Group recently organised a site visit to the Benambra mine tailings dam on the headwaters of the Tambo River to discuss mining company CopperChem’s proposal to re-open and massively expand the dam. The visit raised considerable alarm among all who attended.
Members of local Landcare Groups, Victorian National Parks Association, Gippsland Environment Group, Environment East Gippsland and other interested locals travelled to the Stockman Project east of Benambra to inspect the tailings dam. Staff from Earth Resources (Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources) and Copperchem the mining company that has applied for a licence to expand the tailings dam, were also present to answer questions.
The original Benambra copper and zinc mine was operated by Denehurst Pty Ltd from 1992 until 1996. In 1998 the company went into receivership and abandoned the site forfeiting their mine rehabilitation bond of $375,000. Denehurst left behind an unstable tailings dam containing 700,000 tonnes of toxic tailings leaking acid and heavy metals into Straight Creek which runs into the Tambo River. The tailings dam had been constructed right across the waterway over a series of groundwater springs and had been built without a spillway. Between 1999 and 2005 the EPA authorised DPI to make emergency releases of 160 megalitres of contaminated water to reduce the risk of the dam wall overtopping and undermining the dam foundations.
In 2006 DPI rehabilitated the mine site and tailings dam at a cost of $7 million to the taxpayer. In the process of remediating the tailings dam and constructing a spillway another 140 megalitres of tailings dam water was released into the waterway. The dam operates as a flow through system spilling into Straight Creek as inflows from the catchment raise the water level over the tailings. The dam water was to the mouth of the spillway at the time of the site visit.
The original tailings dam was constructed from rockfill with a concrete grout curtain at the base which has a lifespan of between two and eighty years. Due to a shortage of local clay the dam wall was lined with a geomembrane that has a lifespan of possibly another thirty years. It is impossible to replace either the concrete grout curtain or the liner as they are on the upstream side of the dam wall. An additional HDPE liner was attached to the old one when DPI raised the height of the wall in 2006. This join was inadequate, and potentially acid forming (PAF) rock was used in the embankment. The dam is currently leaking from beneath the toe of the dam at a rate of approx 86,000 litres/day.
Community members were shocked to learn that the enlarged dam will be built on top of this unstable foundation and that before work begins another three metres of contaminated water will have to be released from the tailings dam.
CopperChem plans to raise the existing dam wall another 25 metres in a series of staged lifts up to a total of 45 metres above the valley floor, which will increase the surface area from approx 7 ha to 32 has. Each raise will exacerbate the stability risks and increase the head pressure on seepage already flowing from below the dam wall. HDPE plastic liners will be used on the inside of the wall to contain the toxic tailings and polluted water. These liners have a lifespan of only 100-200 years. HDPE liners are a short-term method of dam design that does not address the long-term management requirements of such a toxic storage facility. The tailings must also remain covered with at least two metres of water forever to prevent an acid change reaction occurring. The impact of climate change on the dam water level over the next thousand years is impossible to calculate.
In December 2017 CopperChem signed a post-closure trust fund deed with the State Government to fund management of the tailings dam in perpetuity after mining ceases. The company is required to lodge a bank guarantee of only $5.7million before work begins. The post-closure trust fund does not cover residual risk and does not include any costing for the remediation of the dam wall when the HDPE liners fail or in the event of catastrophic dam failure. The company will contribute $1million towards insurance against environmental or property damage. It is not clear what amount taxpayers will also contribute.
The original Benambra mine paid no royalties during the period of operations and cost the State Government a total of $13million in financial support for the mine and rehabilitation costs after it was abandoned. Following remediation in 2006 the tailings storage facility was renamed Lake St Barbara and exempted from any future mining operations.
Earth Resources representatives on site were unable to explain why that exemption was recently revoked by Resources Minister Tim Pallas. The groups were united in their concern that any proposal to reopen and expand the tailings dam was foolhardy in the extreme and would jeopardise the health of Tambo River and Gippsland Lakes forever.
As the site visit concluded the consensus of all community members present was that the Minister for Resources Tim Pallas must reject Copperchem’s application for a mining infrastructure licence over the tailings dam.
Objections to the mining infrastructure licence application by CopperChem’s parent company WHSP Stockman Pty Ltd (Licence app no. MIN006642) may be lodged on-line at https://rram.force.com/ObjectionSubmission by April 4th.
Louise Crisp
Secretary
Gippsland Environment Group
Further reading: GEG Inc objection to MIN006642, 5 March 2018
Photo credit: Lisa Roberts
Community Information Night – Mine-free Glenaladale
Tambo River Toxic Threat (21 February 2018)
East Gippsland’s beautiful Tambo River, and the Gippsland Lakes, are threatened by highly toxic waste from an unstable tailings dam.
A proposal by mining company Copperchem to re-open the old ‘Stockman’ copper and zinc mine at the headwaters of the Tambo means extending an already failing earthen dam to the height of the highest stand at the MCG!
The tailings dam wall is meant to last for at least 10,000 years, but the thin membrane keeping the dam intact only has a lifespan of around 100-200 years, and it has been leaking ever since the old mine closed in 1996.
Please tell Earth Resources Victoria that the licence to extend the failing tailings dam should not be granted because:
- Reports show that much information on the performance of the dam is either missing or inadequate
- Extending the 8 hectare area of the already leaking toxic tailings dam to around 32 hectare puts the Tambo River and the Gippsland lakes at an unacceptable risk
- There is no bond adequate to guarantee the security of the dam when the mine closes again.
Send a message outlining your concerns to:
Manager Earth Resources Tenements
DEDJTR
GPO Box 2392, Melbourne 3001
by 5 March, quoting licence number MIN 6642
Source:
https://vnpa.org.au/tambo-river-toxic-threat/