In February 2022 Environmental Justice Australia and Environment Victoria welcomed Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s decision requiring the Hazelwood Mine Rehabilitation Project to undergo the Environment Effects Statement (EES) process.
For more than five years we worked with the Latrobe Valley community in calling for clarity on the fate of the Hazelwood mine pit. The owner, Engie, plans to turn it into an artificial lake using natural water sources including groundwater with plans to divert the Morwell River.
However this could take more than two decades and would require an estimated 638 billion litres of water, or more water than Sydney Harbour and would require an extra five billion litres of water each year just to offset evaporation.
That’s why, along with with EJA and the local community, we pushed for the proposal to undergo a thorough assessment of the impacts on the health of the Latrobe River system and the Ramsar listed Gippsland Lakes, but on the Latrobe Valley community.