Western Australian Labor’s new policy could lead to hasty, botched uranium mining applications
“A real concern and a real danger is that companies will try and short circuit what is already a very weak environmental impact assessment process, just to get something into the bank so that they’re through before a potential change of government,”
Has Labor’s shift on uranium mining started a race? ABC News, Rebecca Boteler, 28 Jan 12 The new Labor leader Mark McGowan has changed his party’s stance on uranium mining in Western Australia. But what does it mean for those companies in the race to mine uranium?
Mr McGowan announced the party’s backflip on uranium mining on his first day in the job. The new policy means any mines already operational by the time the Labor party next comes into power will not be shut down and any companies that already have approval can continue development.
However, Labor will not allow any new mines to be given the green light.
The change in policy has been greeted with both condemnation and cautious optimism.
Most agree Mr McGowan is trying to have his yellow cake and eat it too, by softening the party’s stance while not actually throwing his support behind a uranium industry…..
Senator for WA Scott Ludlam says one of his main concerns is that mining companies will feel under pressure to race through their applications before the Labor party next comes to power.
“A real concern and a real danger is that companies will try and short circuit what is already a very weak environmental impact assessment process, just to get something into the bank so that they’re through before a potential change of government,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s what anybody in the Labor party is intending, but you could see very much that that could be the consequence, that we’ll get some kind of land rush, people will try to get approvals through, corners will be cut and it’s something of a worse case scenario.”
While Labor is currently well behind in the polls, a lot could change by the time the election rolls around next March, meaning uranium explorers could have a limited time to get their projects approved……
While there are no operational mines in WA yet, there are about 190 companies with interests in mining uranium in the state, with Toro Energy leading the charge.
Toro is in a unique position – it has one project almost at the end of the approvals track and another which is yet to set foot on the path.
The company expects the federal and state governments to make a final decision on its Wiluna mine by the middle of this year…..
Mr Hall says if the Wiluna project does get final approval, Labor’s policy shift will be just one factor which will determine whether the company ultimately goes ahead with the mine.
“There’s many things that can impact that decision to be made and one of them could be political risk, so we would evaluate that at the time,” he said…..
Mr Hall says if a Labor government was to come into power, the company would seriously consider whether to bother spending millions of dollars on a project, which under the party’s current policy, wouldn’t be allowed to go ahead.
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