By Kaili Parker-Price 

5 MAR 2008 

 

PREMIER Anna Bligh could commit more than five times the money towards the State Government’s $430 million Queensland Climate Change Fund if she put a stop to plans to dam the Mary River.

Opponents fighting the flawed Traveston Crossing dam proposal in the Mary Valley say the estimated $2.5 billion in dam construction and associated costs would well and truly cover the Premier’s new green policies. And the added bonus would be the avoidance of a massive spike in greenhouse gas emissions from the rotting vegetation and carbon build-up expected by a raft of experts if the proposed dam was built.

This would satisfy the other platform in the Premier’s announcements this week - that any proposals involving potential increases in greenhouse gas emissions - or projects that may be affected by climate change impacts - must include an assessment of these issues for consideration by Cabinet. 

Championing the cause against the damming of the Mary River, Kevin Ingersole referred to data collected by the Save the Mary Coordinating Group when he offered Ms Bligh the advice to stop the dam. The data was collated for the group’s submission to the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed dam.

Save the Mary members have been buoyed by the Government’s decision to save Baffle Creek from damming, and hope the strategies used to save that pristine waterway will bring new attention to the Mary Valley situation.

“The proposed damming of the Mary River at Traveston Crossing was and always has been a political decision, and now we have a chance for Anna Bligh to put an end to it,” Mr Ingersole said.

“A new dam on the Mary River does not sit well with these green initiatives for Queensland or with the progressive new water policies of the Rudd government.”