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The Nature Conservation Council of NSW is calling on the O’Farrell government to rule out weakening native vegetation laws during its current review of the regulations after the Queensland government yesterday passed legislation allowing farmers to clear their land without permits.
“A major spill at a Santos oil field in south-west Queensland [1] has tarnished the company’s reputation as an environmentally competent operator and casts doubt on its ability to manage risky enterprises in sensitive natural areas and drinking water catchments,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke said.
“Santos wants to develop a coal seam gas field in the Pilliga in the north-west of NSW claiming it can exploit the resource without damaging the largest remaining temperate woodland in eastern Australia.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has renewed its call for an end to unsustainable native forest logging and a rapid transition to plantation sources of timber after it was revealed the NSW Forestry Corporation lost almost $8 million on its native forestry operations last financial year.
The Sun Herald reported yesterday that taxpayers paid $671 a hectare subsidising the loss-making native forests operations of the corporation. [1]
Large tracts of land protected by environmental land zoning across NSW will be reclassified as “rural” or “residential” land under the state government’s proposed new planning system, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW has warned.
NCC Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke said the number of environmental zones would be cut from four to one under the government’s proposals.
Four of the state’s leading conservation organisations have called on the O’Farrell government to reject the recommendations of the upper house inquiry into public lands [1] to allow logging in national parks and place a moratorium on new conservation areas.
Environmentalists, land mangers and ecologists from across NSW will convene in Bathurst this weekend (May 4-5) to discuss strategies for reversing the decline in the health of the state’s rivers and rural landscapes.
NCC Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke said the Nature Conservation Council of NSW Regional Environment Conference would focus on solutions and highlight the role of grassroots organisations in protecting the environment.
NCC has welcomed the Environment Protection Authority’s (EPA) decision to significantly reduce the salt and heavy metals BHP Billton is permitted to pump into the Georges River but has criticised the state government for failing to act until local residents took legal action.
“The people of the Macarthur area people should not have been forced to take legal action to protect Georges River from the toxic discharges from BHP’s dams,” NCC Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke.
The resurrection of the Wallarah 2 coal mine proposal near Wyong on the Central Coast highlights the need for binding legal protections for the state’s drinking water catchments, according to the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.
The state government is again calling for public comment on the project, which was rejected in 2011 because of its unacceptable risks to water resources and risks to wildlife.
“Residents of the village of Bulga in the Upper Hunter thought years of bullying and intimidation by mining giant Rio Tinto might have ended last week when the Land and Environment Court overturned the state government’s approval of the Warkworth Extension Coal mine,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Mr Pepe Clarke said.
The fight to save the Gardens of Stone came to the streets of Springwood today when mountains residents rallied in the town square calling on the government to protect the area from coal mining once and for all.
The rally, organized by the Blue Mountains Conservation Society, Lithgow Environment Group and Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) was the final event in a week-long tour by senior NCC staff of iconic natural areas across the state that are being threatened by damaging coal mining and gas developments.
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