❓ Hon Giz Watson questions the Minister for the Environment regarding the Flying Fox Nickel Mine's dewatering operating strategy and potential environmental breaches, focusing on the depth of tree roots and the application of the precautionary principle. The Minister responds that no breaches have occurred and justifies the trigger levels based on site-specific factors.
AnsweredQoN 5611Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) Will the Minister both table and quote the specific text of any reports which identify that tree roots for native vegetation in the area of the Flying Fox Nickel Mine only extend to 10 metres below ground level in order to justify this level being set as the trigger level to prevent hypersaline water impacts on tree roots for native vegetation in the area?
(2) If no to (1), why not?
(3) Can the Minister explain why do the report(s) referred to in (1), which may indicate tree roots for native vegetation only extending to 10 metres below the surface, take precedence under the precautionary principle of the
Environmental Protection Act 1986
given there are many other technical reports and papers which clearly show that native vegetation has deep root systems which extend greater than 20 metres below ground level and up to 40 metres below the surface?
(4) If no to (3), why not?
(5) Can the Minister indicate the specific nature and how many breaches of the
Environmental Protection Act 1986
, Environmental Field Notices, enforcement letters and written directions have been issued to the Flying Fox Nickel Mine in the last five years?
(6) If no to (5), why not?
(7) Will the Minister table copies of all the alleged breaches of the
Environmental Protection Act 1986
, Environmental Field Notices, enforcement letters and written directions that have been issued to the Flying Fox Nickel Mine in the last five years?
(8) If no to (7), why not?
(2) If no to (1), why not?
(3) Can the Minister explain why do the report(s) referred to in (1), which may indicate tree roots for native vegetation only extending to 10 metres below the surface, take precedence under the precautionary principle of the
Environmental Protection Act 1986
given there are many other technical reports and papers which clearly show that native vegetation has deep root systems which extend greater than 20 metres below ground level and up to 40 metres below the surface?
(4) If no to (3), why not?
(5) Can the Minister indicate the specific nature and how many breaches of the
Environmental Protection Act 1986
, Environmental Field Notices, enforcement letters and written directions have been issued to the Flying Fox Nickel Mine in the last five years?
(6) If no to (5), why not?
(7) Will the Minister table copies of all the alleged breaches of the
Environmental Protection Act 1986
, Environmental Field Notices, enforcement letters and written directions that have been issued to the Flying Fox Nickel Mine in the last five years?
(8) If no to (7), why not?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
4 December 2007
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for the Environment
Response time
20 days
(1) Yes, 'Western Areas NL Final Report on Dewatering Operating Strategy Forrestania Nickel Project (January 2007)'. [See tabled paper no ]
Western Areas NL developed a dewatering operating strategy for their Forrestania operations. Within this strategy is a range of measures to manage and mitigate the impacts of dewatering discharge back into the groundwater system. One of these strategies is to set water level triggers between 7m and 10m below ground level. The dewatering operating strategy outlines the basis for the setting of these triggers including, amongst other factors, surface drainage, root zone impacts, proximity of individual injection borefields to topographically low areas, existing groundwater levels and surface drainage features and the likely lead time required for groundwater level mounding to cease rising at the particular trigger location, after injection is ceased.
A range of other measures is also included in the strategy including vegetation monitoring when water levels are less than 20m below ground level, water quality and water quantity measurements. DEC considered that the overall dewatering operating strategy included reasonable and practicable measures to manage the risk of environmental harm or pollution.
(2) Not applicable.
(3) A range of factors was considered in setting the trigger limits, including factors that were considered reasonable and practicable by the Department of Environment and Conservation.
Caution must be applied to extrapolating data and reports from one area to another. The Youanmi mine is in the Murchison biogeographical region that is dominated by mulga communities with areas of relatively shallow potable groundwater utilised by trees and plant communities. The Flying Fox mine is in the Coolgardie biogeographical region (southwest interzone) that is dominated by Eucalypt woodland communities and heathland with saline or hypersaline groundwater not utilised by tree and plant communities.
(4) Not applicable.
(5) None.
(6) Not applicable.
(7) Not applicable.
(8) Not applicable.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
Western Areas NL developed a dewatering operating strategy for their Forrestania operations. Within this strategy is a range of measures to manage and mitigate the impacts of dewatering discharge back into the groundwater system. One of these strategies is to set water level triggers between 7m and 10m below ground level. The dewatering operating strategy outlines the basis for the setting of these triggers including, amongst other factors, surface drainage, root zone impacts, proximity of individual injection borefields to topographically low areas, existing groundwater levels and surface drainage features and the likely lead time required for groundwater level mounding to cease rising at the particular trigger location, after injection is ceased.
A range of other measures is also included in the strategy including vegetation monitoring when water levels are less than 20m below ground level, water quality and water quantity measurements. DEC considered that the overall dewatering operating strategy included reasonable and practicable measures to manage the risk of environmental harm or pollution.
(2) Not applicable.
(3) A range of factors was considered in setting the trigger limits, including factors that were considered reasonable and practicable by the Department of Environment and Conservation.
Caution must be applied to extrapolating data and reports from one area to another. The Youanmi mine is in the Murchison biogeographical region that is dominated by mulga communities with areas of relatively shallow potable groundwater utilised by trees and plant communities. The Flying Fox mine is in the Coolgardie biogeographical region (southwest interzone) that is dominated by Eucalypt woodland communities and heathland with saline or hypersaline groundwater not utilised by tree and plant communities.
(4) Not applicable.
(5) None.
(6) Not applicable.
(7) Not applicable.
(8) Not applicable.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.