ENVIRONMENTALISTS say the T4 coal-loader proposed for Kooragang Island will wreak havoc on the Hunter River, as well as destroy fragile wetlands and the area’s last remaining drought refuge for protected fauna.
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Greens MP Cate Faehrmann was joined by Simon Fane from the Hunter Community Environment Centre and Ann Lindsay from the Hunter Bird Observers’ Club at Ash Island yesterday to inspect potentially affected areas.
Mr Fane said there has been no attempt on behalf of the applicant, Port Waratah Coal Services, to ask how it might go about building the proposed fourth coal-loader without encroaching on the wetlands.
‘‘I don’t think Newcastle realises what it’s going to mean to have this port three times as large,’’ he said.
‘‘We have been told it can’t be stopped, so what we would like them to do is look at how to limit the impacts on Newcastle.’’
That includes not encroaching on the wetlands, ensuring construction occurs on remediated sites without contaminating the Hunter River, and making every effort to mitigate dust impacts, such as covering trains and stock piles, he said.
Specific concerns included the destruction of Deep Pond, which was within the proposed construction area and would be filled in and used as a saline pond, he said.
‘‘It currently serves as a drought refuge for a lot of migratory shore birds, some of which are listed internationally as protected species,’’ Mr Fane said.
The proposal also involves building on top of an industrial waste dump site with significant contamination issues, he said.
‘‘The plan is to cover it with dredge material and pack it down without remediation ... so you are effectively squeezing and pushing it down into the river and wetlands, contaminating the Hunter River,’’ he said.
Ms Lindsay said the Hunter Bird Observers’ Club had been surveying birds in the wetlands for 13 years and were not informed when the state government reclassified a parcel of national parkland, which made it available to Port Waratah Coal Services for T4.
‘‘Our main concern is the destruction of habitat for migratory shore birds who are protected under international and national legislation,’’ she said.
‘‘They say there will [be an offset area] but they do not say where it is or how big it is and they don’t say it will be in the immediate area.
‘‘The only offset area they have identified is Ellalong lagoon, which is 40 kilometres away and which is not a drought refuge.’’
