❓ The Minister for Environment has approved the Cable Sands mining proposal in Ludlow state forest, with new environmental conditions including increased preservation of old-growth and mature tuart trees and land offsets.
AnsweredQoN 1109Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Has the minister made a decision on whether to approve the proposed Cable Sands (WA) Pty Ltd mine in the Ludlow state forest? Dr J.M. EDWARDS
AnswerView source ↗
Cable Sands proposes to mine around 140 hectares of state forest adjacent to the Tuart Forest National Park south of Bunbury. Although this area contains pine trees and indeed has been logged to take away some of the pine, it also contains remnant and regrowth tuart forest which has been the subject of quite a lot of debate and some emotion. Around 550 tuarts in this area are more than 100 years old and are regarded as old-growth tuart. Around 1 740 tuarts are between 80 and 100 years old. In May of this year the Environmental Protection Authority released a bulletin in which it indicated that the proposal could go ahead. It included some offsets to make the approval more environmentally acceptable. There have subsequently been 37 appeals. I have today determined those appeals; I have determined that, with some new environmental conditions, this proposal can proceed. I have been mindful when considering the appeals that people are very concerned about old-growth tuarts. In order to follow through on that point, I have been in negotiation with the company. It will now double the number of old-growth tuarts that are to be preserved, from the 35 per cent proposed originally to 70 per cent. In addition, it will also increase the number of mature trees that will be preserved to 50 per cent. The offsets that were previously proposed will stay in place. Parcels of land will be purchased to add to the national park. Other private land that contains tuarts will also be purchased to make sure that as much as possible of the good tuart estate is put into conservation reserves. I believe that although this process has been quite difficult, it is a sensible outcome and an example of our getting a better outcome for the environment than was initially put forward but at the same time allowing development to proceed.
Dr J.M. EDWARDS replied: Cable Sands proposes to mine around 140 hectares of state forest adjacent to the Tuart Forest National Park south of Bunbury. Although this area contains pine trees and indeed has been logged to take away some of the pine, it also contains remnant and regrowth tuart forest which has been the subject of quite a lot of debate and some emotion. Around 550 tuarts in this area are more than 100 years old and are regarded as old-growth tuart. Around 1 740 tuarts are between 80 and 100 years old. In May of this year the Environmental Protection Authority released a bulletin in which it indicated that the proposal could go ahead. It included some offsets to make the approval more environmentally acceptable. There have subsequently been 37 appeals. I have today determined those appeals; I have determined that, with some new environmental conditions, this proposal can proceed. I have been mindful when considering the appeals that people are very concerned about old-growth tuarts. In order to follow through on that point, I have been in negotiation with the company. It will now double the number of old-growth tuarts that are to be preserved, from the 35 per cent proposed originally to 70 per cent. In addition, it will also increase the number of mature trees that will be preserved to 50 per cent. The offsets that were previously proposed will stay in place. Parcels of land will be purchased to add to the national park. Other private land that contains tuarts will also be purchased to make sure that as much as possible of the good tuart estate is put into conservation reserves. I believe that although this process has been quite difficult, it is a sensible outcome and an example of our getting a better outcome for the environment than was initially put forward but at the same time allowing development to proceed.
Cable Sands proposes to mine around 140 hectares of state forest adjacent to the Tuart Forest National Park south of Bunbury. Although this area contains pine trees and indeed has been logged to take away some of the pine, it also contains remnant and regrowth tuart forest which has been the subject of quite a lot of debate and some emotion. Around 550 tuarts in this area are more than 100 years old and are regarded as old-growth tuart. Around 1 740 tuarts are between 80 and 100 years old. In May of this year the Environmental Protection Authority released a bulletin in which it indicated that the proposal could go ahead. It included some offsets to make the approval more environmentally acceptable. There have subsequently been 37 appeals. I have today determined those appeals; I have determined that, with some new environmental conditions, this proposal can proceed. I have been mindful when considering the appeals that people are very concerned about old-growth tuarts. In order to follow through on that point, I have been in negotiation with the company. It will now double the number of old-growth tuarts that are to be preserved, from the 35 per cent proposed originally to 70 per cent. In addition, it will also increase the number of mature trees that will be preserved to 50 per cent. The offsets that were previously proposed will stay in place. Parcels of land will be purchased to add to the national park. Other private land that contains tuarts will also be purchased to make sure that as much as possible of the good tuart estate is put into conservation reserves. I believe that although this process has been quite difficult, it is a sensible outcome and an example of our getting a better outcome for the environment than was initially put forward but at the same time allowing development to proceed.
In order to follow through on that point, I have been in negotiation with the company. It will now double the number of old-growth tuarts that are to be preserved, from the 35 per cent proposed originally to 70 per cent. In addition, it will also increase the number of mature trees that will be preserved to 50 per cent. The offsets that were previously proposed will stay in place. Parcels of land will be purchased to add to the national park. Other private land that contains tuarts will also be purchased to make sure that as much as possible of the good tuart estate is put into conservation reserves. I believe that although this process has been quite difficult, it is a sensible outcome and an example of our getting a better outcome for the environment than was initially put forward but at the same time allowing development to proceed.
Dr J.M. EDWARDS replied: Cable Sands proposes to mine around 140 hectares of state forest adjacent to the Tuart Forest National Park south of Bunbury. Although this area contains pine trees and indeed has been logged to take away some of the pine, it also contains remnant and regrowth tuart forest which has been the subject of quite a lot of debate and some emotion. Around 550 tuarts in this area are more than 100 years old and are regarded as old-growth tuart. Around 1 740 tuarts are between 80 and 100 years old. In May of this year the Environmental Protection Authority released a bulletin in which it indicated that the proposal could go ahead. It included some offsets to make the approval more environmentally acceptable. There have subsequently been 37 appeals. I have today determined those appeals; I have determined that, with some new environmental conditions, this proposal can proceed. I have been mindful when considering the appeals that people are very concerned about old-growth tuarts. In order to follow through on that point, I have been in negotiation with the company. It will now double the number of old-growth tuarts that are to be preserved, from the 35 per cent proposed originally to 70 per cent. In addition, it will also increase the number of mature trees that will be preserved to 50 per cent. The offsets that were previously proposed will stay in place. Parcels of land will be purchased to add to the national park. Other private land that contains tuarts will also be purchased to make sure that as much as possible of the good tuart estate is put into conservation reserves. I believe that although this process has been quite difficult, it is a sensible outcome and an example of our getting a better outcome for the environment than was initially put forward but at the same time allowing development to proceed.
Cable Sands proposes to mine around 140 hectares of state forest adjacent to the Tuart Forest National Park south of Bunbury. Although this area contains pine trees and indeed has been logged to take away some of the pine, it also contains remnant and regrowth tuart forest which has been the subject of quite a lot of debate and some emotion. Around 550 tuarts in this area are more than 100 years old and are regarded as old-growth tuart. Around 1 740 tuarts are between 80 and 100 years old. In May of this year the Environmental Protection Authority released a bulletin in which it indicated that the proposal could go ahead. It included some offsets to make the approval more environmentally acceptable. There have subsequently been 37 appeals. I have today determined those appeals; I have determined that, with some new environmental conditions, this proposal can proceed. I have been mindful when considering the appeals that people are very concerned about old-growth tuarts. In order to follow through on that point, I have been in negotiation with the company. It will now double the number of old-growth tuarts that are to be preserved, from the 35 per cent proposed originally to 70 per cent. In addition, it will also increase the number of mature trees that will be preserved to 50 per cent. The offsets that were previously proposed will stay in place. Parcels of land will be purchased to add to the national park. Other private land that contains tuarts will also be purchased to make sure that as much as possible of the good tuart estate is put into conservation reserves. I believe that although this process has been quite difficult, it is a sensible outcome and an example of our getting a better outcome for the environment than was initially put forward but at the same time allowing development to proceed.
In order to follow through on that point, I have been in negotiation with the company. It will now double the number of old-growth tuarts that are to be preserved, from the 35 per cent proposed originally to 70 per cent. In addition, it will also increase the number of mature trees that will be preserved to 50 per cent. The offsets that were previously proposed will stay in place. Parcels of land will be purchased to add to the national park. Other private land that contains tuarts will also be purchased to make sure that as much as possible of the good tuart estate is put into conservation reserves. I believe that although this process has been quite difficult, it is a sensible outcome and an example of our getting a better outcome for the environment than was initially put forward but at the same time allowing development to proceed.
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