Antinuclear

South Australian govt will put BHP Billiton’s welfare ahead of environment?

BHP Billiton says building its proposed desalination plant anywhere but Point Lowly on the Spencer Gulf would cost “hundreds of millions” more dollars.

The desal plant’s location has divided the State Government and the Opposition, with the latter calling for BHP to investigate an alternative site on the West Coast beyond Ceduna.

Labor member for Giles, Lyn Breuer, also wants the plant built elsewhere, saying the risk to the giant cuttlefish population in the gulf is too great.

The desalination plant is included in the company’s Olympic Dam Expansion draft Environmental Impact Statement, which is still being considered by the state and federal governments.

In a report to Parliament in November, Ms Breuer said the State Government had asked BHP to look at alternative locations, but a spokesman for Minerals Resources Minister Paul Holloway yesterday said that was not the case.

BHP head of external affairs Kym Winter-Dewhirst said the only site under consideration was Point Lowly………

Opposition leader Isobel Redmond, who wants the plant built near Penong, said she believed the Government was “over-anxious” for the project to go ahead.

“Is the Premier saying that no matter what environmental impact there may be, he is giving BHP the go-ahead to put the desal plant there?” Ms Redmond said.

“The Government would have the authority to tell them where they can’t put the desal plant or where they can.”

January 8, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, South Australia, uranium | antinuclear, Australia, BHP, BHP Billiton, nuclear costs, South Australia, uranium