Environment Victoria welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Viva Gas Terminal Project Supplementary EES Inquiry (SEES).
We make the following points in relation to the Relevant Environmental Effects that are within scope for this inquiry:
- The Proponent’s Supplementary Environment Effects Statement (SEES) is incomplete and does not fully satisfy the Minister’s recommendations. The Cultural Values Assessment (Recommendation 12) has not been completed and the chapter on this topic amounts to little more than an explanation of work to be done. The Stantec peer review of the marine ecology sections includes comments that have not been fully resolved.
- A review by independent marine ecologist and dredging expert Dr Parry, attached to this submission, finds fatal flaws in the SEES studies and a concerning lack of detailed reporting. These are covered in more specific detail below and in the Appendix.
- The Proponent has likely underestimated the amount of dredging involved, and the yet-to-be-released safety and navigation studies may impact on the extent of this dredging along the Corio Bay shipping channel. This is an issue that was noted by the IAC report after being raised by GeelongPort and several expert witnesses during the previous EES inquiry. Dr Parry has also raised it in his independent review attached.
- The trigger values for turbidity in the Environmental Management Framework (EMF) are far less stringent that those used in past dredging
in Corio Bay or in the Victorian Dredging Guidelines.
- This mitigation measure should be updated in line with the dredging guidelines recommended values.
Read our submission below or download it here>>