Friends of Felton 8 July Report

Friends of Felton Report


Last week’s meeting concentrated on reports on Ambre Energy’s Pittsworth information meeting, and a meeting with Peter Kenny of AgForce.

Ambre’s Information Meeting

Ambre’s plans for the CO2 that will be produced at the proposed hybrid energy plant were frustratingly vague at the Pittsworth meeting, with a number of options apparently under consideration. It appears that piping it to Moonie is the most favoured, with a sleeve suggested as the answer to fixing the current leaks in the pipeline. What was uncomfortably clear was that the amount of CO2 expected to be produced has tripled, to 3 tonnes of CO2 for every 1 tonne of DME (dimethyl ether).

The location of the potential buffer zones around the mine and plant are still to be decided by Ambre, and the future supply of water is still uncertain. Although Ambre are no longer planning to wash the coal, they will still need to import water and appear to be considering using potential saline water from the Dalby gas fields, but are unclear about potential desalination.

Ambre expect to apply for a mining lease within 4 weeks, but are unsure when the revised IAS (initial advice statement) will be available. They then expect the EIS (environmental impact survey) to take 18 months. Friends of Felton will only have 20 days to lodge suggestions for terms of reference for the EIS once the lease application is lodged.

AgForce Meeting

Friends of Felton were invited to join concerned AgForce members meeting with Peter Kenny recently. The group were informed about AgForce’s activities concerning the farming versus mining issue, and how AgForce could assist in the future.

Publicity

The recent 7.30 Report exposure was well received by the group, and further publicity was discussed. The photographic exhibition is expected to be on display in the Pittsworth Gallery from 21st July – well worth a visit to see how beautiful the Felton Valley is.

The logo for this week is Mining in Felton. Shame, Shame, Shame.

The next meeting will be held at the Felton Hall on Tuesday 22nd July at 7pm, where Ray Hopper, MP for Darling Downs, will address the group.