The Queensland government has not been “fair dinkum” with the public on its ambitious pumped hydro plans, the state opposition says.
But the LNP itself is facing calls from environmentalists to reveal its alternative plans to reach emissions reduction targets ahead of October’s state election.
The government-owned Queensland Hydro is developing two major projects — one in the Pioneer Valley near Mackay and the other at Borumba near Gympie.
The $12 billion project in the Pioneer Valley is the centrepiece of the landmark 10-year Queensland Energy and Jobs plan, which is estimated to support up to 100,000 jobs by 2040.
The plan aims to have 50 per cent of the state powered by renewable energy by 2030, 70 per cent by 2032 and 80 per cent by 2035.
The state also has an emissions reduction target of 75 per cent by 2035.
But the projects have left impacted local residents questioning whether the social cost of developing them is worth it.
Doug Cannon, who heads the Save Eungella group, said the Pioneer-Burdekin project had “completely divided” the community.
“It’s quite concerning that we’re going to be throwing billions of dollars at a project that we’ve got no idea about,” he said.
LNP leader David Crisafulli told the ABC there had been “no planning approvals, no business case and no environmental assessment” for the Pioneer-Burdekin scheme.
“The government can’t say how much it’s going to cost or the impact on people’s power bills,” he said.
“Is it any wonder we said we can’t support that project, because the government hasn’t been fair dinkum.
“Now even the federal government in their budget didn’t provide one cent towards the project. I think that gives you an indication of what people in the marketplace think about it.”
Mr Crisafulli said Tuesday’s state budget would be an indicator of the government’s intentions for the project.
$26 billion for renewable energy
Energy Minister Mick de Brenni told the ABC there would be money in the budget for a range of energy projects.
“There’ll be further investment into both of our pumped hydro energy storage schemes, so Borumba on the Sunshine Coast and the Pioneer-Burdekin up in North Queensland near Mackay,” he said.
The government late last week announced it would invest $26 billion in the budget to renewable energy projects and assets.
While initial detail was scant, the government said $16.5 billion of that would go towards renewable energy and storage projects.
The business case for the $14.2 billion Borumba scheme has been signed off by the government, which is now progressing through its environmental approvals stage.
Mr de Brenni said he was confident the Borumba hydro project would pass environmental approvals and not impact the Mary River, which is home to rare and endangered species.
“We’ll design it to make sure that it doesn’t,” he said.
“I’ve required that there be no impact on environmental flows through that catchment area flowing into the Mary River.”
He said both projects had the potential to save Queenslanders money on their power bills.
‘We need to see the details’
Dave Copeman from the Queensland Conservation Council said while the state’s emissions reduction targets had bipartisan support, he was concerned the LNP “doesn’t seem to have a clear plan” on how it would achieve it.
“We need to transition our energy system away from coal and gas,” he said.
“We are calling on David Crisafulli to make it clear before the election, if he doesn’t support some of the pumped hydro, what’s his plan to meet the same [emissions] targets?
“Queenslanders need to know where they stand before this election. And we need to see the details.”
The LNP has not publicly stated how it intends to meet emissions targets.
Premier Steven Miles in March apologised to residents living near or in the Pioneer-Burdekin project zone for the “pain and suffering” they had felt during the process.
“In hindsight, we could have definitely handled it better and it’s my hope starting today we can do better [by] communicating with you first so you know what’s going on,” he said at the time.
Mr Cannon from the Save Eungella group said it should be cancelled altogether.
“We shouldn’t be looking at projects for renewables in the areas of pristine, unique biodiversity.
“There’s plenty of land that we’ve already destroyed where we can put renewable projects, we don’t need to develop more land.”
Additional reporting by Alex Easton and Meecham Philpott.