Green on Green: Wilderness Protection Laws and Indigenous Rights are Derailing Renewable Energy Projects
14 hours ago Eric Worrall 29 Comments
Essay by Eric Worrall
Laws protecting Koalas and “the magnificent brood frog” have prevented a renewable energy company from clearing 500 acres 500 hectares of native vegetation in the Australian tropics.
Federal environmental laws ‘single biggest challenge’ for delivering renewable energy projects in Australia
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
In far north Queensland, traditional owners, clean energy developers and conservationists had spent three long years sweating on this decision.
Depending on which side you believed, this development would either supply 150,000 homes with clean, green energy or destroy the forest habitat of threatened native species.
Late on Friday, the wait was finally over.
An email from Ark Energy landed in inboxes, announcing the company had “withdrawn the Wooroora Station Wind Farm proposal from the federal environmental assessment process.”
In other words, the proposed project was dead.
The Korean-owned developer had planned to clear more than 500 hectares of native vegetation next to the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area, home to animals including the koala and magnificent brood frog.
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Read more:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-22/environmental-laws-biggest-challenge-for-clean-energy-developers/103750830https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/04/23/green-on-green-world-heritage-wilderness-laws-are-derailing-renewable-energy-projects/
