National environmental assessment of the Kentbruck wind farm proposal is now underway — so this poorly-sited project is back in the spotlight

Since we shared our last update in January’s newsletter, it has emerged that the national environmental assessment (under the EPBC Act) is now underway for the highly contested, poorly-sited, proposed Kentbruck wind farm.

This key step in the approval process has triggered a new wave of media interest, with The Age newspaper recently making contact to seek NGT’s perspective on the project.

You can view the print version of the article from Sunday’s newspaper by clicking the image above (or download it here), or alternatively read it in a more friendly format via the pdf viewer below.

Towards the end of the story, there is mention of the fact that “in approving the project, Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny noted there was insufficient information before her on how matters of national environmental significance might be managed“.

From the outside, it remains unclear what the implications of this are for the EPBC assessment that is currently underway, which clearly will require such information in order to continue.

We are also curious why and how the State-based Environment Effects Statement (EES) assessment process, completed last year, was even able to proceed to a conclusion without the necessary level of crucial detail on EPBC matters available. Given its role in gathering material ahead of the final EPBC assessment (under a bilateral arrangement with the Australian Government), the state-based process appears to have had a range of shortcomings – potentially even more than those we touched on in this article in January.

For there to be so many ongoing issues with this proposal, seven years after EPBC Act approval was first sought, simply demonstrates just how complex and risky this sensitive environment is for a project of this enormous scale and potential impact.

As we await the outcome, the rigour and independence of this phase in the environmental approval process, under the EPBC Act, is going to be vital for both (a) maintaining community confidence in our environment protection and approvals system, and (b) safeguarding the long-term future of this sensitive landscape, including Ramsar-listed wetlands and the threatened species (like the critically endangered Southern Bent Wing Bat, shown below) that call it home.

With the nearest proposed Renewable Energy Zone recently announced by the state government situated more than 50km away, the simplest and most sensible ongoing outcome would be for this and other future major developments to entirely avoid both the Discovery Bay landscape, and any other similarly sensitive, biodiverse areas like it around the country.