Antinuclear

Will South Aust govt really enforce conditions on Roxby Downs uranium mine expansion?

South Australian govt calls on BHPB to fix gaps in Olympic Dam Environmental Impact Statement

Carbon + Environment

25 August 2009

The South Australian Government has called on BHP Billiton to fix inadequacies in its draft EIS for the proposed expansion of its Olympic Dam mine.

……………The submission calls on BHP Billiton to further examine the risks posed to local wildlife by the proposed tailing storage facility and to more thoroughly investigate the effects of long-term groundwater and leachate flows on underground aquifers.

Additional modelling is also required on air pollution and radiation risks to the nearby community of Roxby Downs, the submission says.

Premier Mike Rann underlined the Government’s commitment to the mine expansion, saying that he believed all of the issues raised in its submission “could and would” be addressed by BHP Billiton.

But Greens MLC Mark Parnell, who has also made a submission on the project, said the fact that the Government is locked into the project going ahead, “makes it very difficult” for them to attach stronger environmental conditions that might impose additional costs.

“Environmental protection and rehabilitation costs money. BHP Billiton will only do the right thing if the Rann Government is prepared to insist on strict and enforceable environmental standards,” he said.

SA Government tells BHP Billiton to fix gaps in Olympic Dam EIS

August 25, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, South Australia, uranium | antinuclear, Australia, nuclear, radioactive, South Australia, uranium