Wallumbilla Gas Treatment Facility (withdrawn)
Project summary
The proponent for the Wallumbilla Gas Treatment Facility project is GLNG Operations Pty Ltd (Santos GLNG), acting on behalf of project partners Santos, PETRONAS, Total and KOGAS. The project would involve the staged construction of gas processing and treatment facilities and supporting infrastructure in a location known as the Wallumbilla gas hub. The project site is located 12 kilometres (km) south of the town of Wallumbilla and approximately 50km south-east of Roma, in South West Queensland.
The proposed development would take place on a 15.5 hectare parcel of leasehold land within Lot 33 on SP212840, held jointly by Santos GLNG Pty Ltd, Total GLNG Australia, PAPL (Downstream) Pty Ltd and KGLNG Liquefaction Pty Ltd. The site abuts the existing Wallumbilla compressor station and Wallumbilla metering station.
In January 2012, Santos GLNG had requested, under section 70 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994, to voluntarily prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project. The information they provided about the project and its potential impacts indicated that an EIS would be appropriate for the project. At that time, the department considered the application and decided to grant approval under section 72 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 for Santos GLNG to prepare a voluntary EIS.
Draft terms of reference for the EIS were developed and released for public comment. In July 2012, taking into account the consultation feedback, final terms of reference were by approved by the department under section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994.
On 10 August 2012, Santos GLNG wrote to the department to provide additional information about the potential impacts of the project that had been collected since their original application was made. Santos GLNG requested to withdraw the project from the voluntary EIS process. The request and the new supporting information suggested that the nature and scale of the environmental impacts of the Wallumbilla Gas Treatment Facility would be much less than first thought.
The department considered the information contained in the request to withdraw, together with the original application, and formed the view that it would be appropriate to repeal and remake the earlier decision that a voluntary EIS was appropriate for the project.
Using the powers provided under section 24AA of the Acts Interpretation Act 1954 and section 72 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994, and having considered all relevant material provided by Santos GLNG, the department has decided that an EIS is not appropriate for the Wallumbilla Gas Treatment Facility Project. Instead, the project will now be assessed and managed through the environmental authority application process and an environmental management plan under the Environmental Protection Act 1994. The environmental authority application will be publicly notified in accordance with section 310G of the Environmental Protection Act 1994, providing stakeholders and the community opportunity to provide comment.
Documents
- Final terms of reference (July 2012)
- Draft terms of reference (March 2012)
- Initial advice project describing the project (January 2012)
Further information
For further information regarding the EIS process for this proposal, contact the EIS Coordinator on 13QGOV (13 74 68) or email eis@des.qld.gov.au.