Don’t Waste the Great Sandy Strait!

If you’ve ever swum with dolphins, you know only too well why the survival of these extraordinary mammals is so important.

The magnificent Australian Humpback Dolphin occurs in the Great Sandy Strait near Fraser Island, as do many other important marine species.

But the Strait is at risk from the plans for the Colton coal mine, near Maryborough, which will dump untreated waste water directly into the Mary River a few kilometres upstream.

If you’ve ever swum with dolphins, you know only too well why the survival of these extraordinary mammals is so important.

The magnificent Australian Humpback Dolphin occurs in the Great Sandy Strait near Fraser Island, as do many other important marine species.

But the Strait is at risk from the plans for the Colton coal mine, near Maryborough, which will dump untreated waste water directly into the Mary River a few kilometres upstream.

Please Send a Short Email Today!

1,870 emails sent

We have just one week to demand the Federal Environment Department calls in the Colton coal mine as a ‘controlled action’ under Federal environment laws.

Please send the short email below to the Department today.

Please amend the subject line and add a sentence of two of your own at the start to let them know why the Fraser Coast and Great Sandy Strait is so important to you.

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I send this email in reference to the Colton Coal Project number EPBC 2010/5625. I submit my comment under the Invitation for Public Comment on Reconsideration of Referral Determination: S78B.

Since the Federal Environment Minister first considered the proposed Colton project in 2010, substantial new information has come to light indicating that it is likely to have a significant impact on Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES).

Therefore, I would like to request that you consider the project a controlled action and call it in under Federal environment laws, and then require a full and thorough assessment of its likely impacts on MNES.

I note that the previous decision not to consider the project a controlled action was based on a very scanty 2010 Environmental Management Plan which was later rejected by the Queensland Environment Department.

Some of the substantial new information that I would like to you consider is:

1.	The maximum volume of water proposed for annual discharge into the Mary River upstream of the Great Sandy Strait is 22 times greater than previously indicated.
2.	Predicted heavy metal levels in the wastewater discharge exceed water quality guidelines for the marine environment for 11 substances, including arsenic, boron and lead.
3.	There is a genuine risk of leakage or over-topping from the mine waste dams on site into the Susan River system which then flows into the Great Sandy Strait.
4.	The mine proposes to leave behind a large, unfilled final void after mining that is at risk of over-topping during rain events or leaching polluted wastewater.

I believe this new information confirms that there is likely to be a significant impact on MNES, namely the declared Ramsar wetland of the Great Sandy Strait, migratory bird species listed under international conventions, and marine migratory species including the Australian Humpback Dolphin.

I urge you in the strongest possible terms to protect the internationally significant and unique location of the Great Sandy Strait, and to require a thorough assessment of the risks of the Colton coal project by designating it as a ‘controlled action’.

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