Trial of the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval in the Lower North East Region
Clarence Colliery Discharge Investigation
June 2015
Abstract
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is currently conducting a five-year statutory licence review of Environment Protection Licence (EPL) no. 726 held by Clarence Colliery Pty Ltd. To support this review the EPA requested that the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) make an assessment of the impact of the Clarence Colliery discharge on the Wollangambe River, particularly considering the river runs through the World Heritage Area of the Greater Blue Mountains National Park, a part of the OEH estate. Fieldwork, laboratory and statistical analyses to support this assessment were conducted between October 2014 and February 2015.
The major conclusions from this assessment are:
The surface headwaters of the Newnes Plateau generally have excellent water quality with very low concentrations of dissolved and total salts and very low concentrations of most metals, metalloids and non-metallic inorganics (excepting iron and aluminium).
Clarence Colliery LDP002 introduces a high volume, point source of pollution to the Upper Wollangambe River.
Very little dilution of the discharge (and contained contaminants) is achieved once it joins the Wollangambe River. This is largely due to the volume of the discharge, together with its location high in the headwaters of the Wollangambe River.
Relative to ‘natural levels’ in the streams of the Newnes Plateau (including the Wollangambe River upstream of LDP002), the LDP002 discharge has elevated levels of: dissolved and total barium; bicarbonate alkalinity; dissolved and total calcium; dissolved and total cobalt; conductivity; hardness; dissolved and total lithium; dissolved and total magnesium; dissolved and total nickel; dissolved and total potassium; dissolved and total strontium; dissolved and total sulfur; sulfate; alkalinity; total dissolved solids; and dissolved and total zinc.
Relative to ‘natural levels’ in the streams of the Newnes Plateau (including the Wollangambe River upstream of LDP002) the LDP002 discharge had lower levels of chloride.
For a number of analytes measured the difference in concentration was an order of magnitude (10 times) greater than ‘natural levels’ in the streams of the Newnes Plateau, and for some analytes (e.g. nickel, sulfur, sulfate, calcium) concentrations were 50 to 100 times greater.
Nickel concentrations measured in LDP002 discharge waters were greater than the ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) default water quality guideline trigger value for nickel, designed to protect 95% of species; and greater than the NHMRC (2013) Australian drinking water guideline level. The current licence (EPL726) for Clarence Colliery does not specify a limit for nickel.
Concentrations of zinc measured in LDP002 water (and downstream) exceeded the ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) water quality guideline trigger value for zinc designed to protect 95% of species, although they were below the EPL limit set by the EPA for this discharge.
The LDP002 discharge alters the water chemistry (pH, conductivity, alkalinity, ionic composition, suite of metals, metalloids, non-metallic inorganics) of the receiving waters close to where the discharge joins the Wollangambe River and for a considerable distance downstream (including at sites sampled within the GreaterBlue Mountains World Heritage Area).
The LDP002 discharge waters exhibited acute and chronic toxicity to the freshwater cladoceran Ceriodaphnia dubia at a variety of dilutions. It also caused significant inhibitory effects on growth of the freshwater green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata.
The LDP002 discharge has the potential to be inducing toxic effects and reproductive impairment in sensitive invertebrate and algal species in the receiving environment of the Wollangambe River, including at sites within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
OEH’s latest sampling suggests that the macroinvertebrate community downstream of the discharge is demonstrably different from that of the pristine headwater streams of the Newnes Plateau. Further, the difference in macroinvertebrate communities extends to sample sites located within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
Further investigations are needed to determine exactly which components of the LDP002 discharge waters are causing the observed acute and chronic toxicity.
The full longitudinal extent of the discharge impacts on macroinvertebrate communities in the Wollangambe River also needs to be established.
There is a clear need to review EPL licence conditions for nickel and conductivity (not currently on EPL726). The EPL limit for zinc, currently set at nearly 200 times the ANZECC/ ARMCANZ (2000) water quality guideline trigger value for the protection of 95% of species, should also be reviewed.
Based on the results of the current study, consideration should also be given to setting EPL licence conditions for other contaminants in the discharge whose levels were found to be significantly higher than background levels in the Upper Wollangambe River and Newnes Plateau headwater streams.
Given that the LDP002 discharge flows into a near pristine Newnes Plateau headwater stream which subsequently flows into the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area it is recommended that any review of EPL limits is based on ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) water quality guideline trigger values which are designed to protect freshwater species.
Page 9 : Relative to ‘natural levels’ in the streams of the Newnes Plateau (including the Wollangambe River upstream of LDP002), the LDP002 discharge was found to have elevated levels of: dissolved and total barium; bicarbonate alkalinity; dissolved and total calcium; dissolved and total cobalt; conductivity; hardness; dissolved and total lithium; dissolved and total magnesium; dissolved and total manganese; dissolved and total nickel; dissolved and total potassium; dissolved and total strontium; dissolved and total sulfur; sulfate; alkalinity, total dissolved solids; dissolved and total vanadium; and dissolved and total zinc. In contrast, relative to ‘natural levels’ in the streams of the Newnes Plateau (including the Wollangambe River upstream of LDP002) the LDP002 discharge had lower levels of chloride. For a number of analytes the difference was an order of magnitude (10 times) greater than ‘natural levels’ in the streams of the Newnes Plateau and for some analytes (e.g. nickel, sulfur, sulfate, calcium) concentrations were 50 to 100 times greater
© 2015 State of NSW and Office of Environment and Heritage
Full report at: HERE - PDF: 982 KB
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Stop Springvale Colliery's Extension Plan - write a letter to Planning Minister Robert Stokes
Nature Conservation Council of NSW: June 10, 2015
Wastewater discharge from a coal mine near Lithgow is adding deadly toxins to Sydney's drinking water supply and harming species at the bottom of the Wollangambe River's food chain.
Studies have recorded 90 per cent drop in the abundance of macroinvertebrates, including the water bugs stonefly, mayfly and caddisfly, critical food sources for larger animals, including fish and birds.
Take action: http://bit.ly/1GvYlKy
Second Review of the Fuel Quality Standards Act
Media release: 12 June 2015; The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for the Environment
The Australian Government today announced the second independent review of its Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000.
I am delighted to appoint Marsden Jacob Associates as the independent reviewer. Marsden Jacob will partner with Pacific Environment/Toxicos for the review.
The two firms bring with them a wealth of experience on the assessment of environmental regulation.
Fuel quality standards place limits on substances in fuel that, when burnt in vehicles' engines and expelled through an engine or vehicle's exhaust, can adversely affect people's health and the environment.
The Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 provides the legislative basis for national fuel quality and fuel quality information standards in Australia.
By world standards, Australia has very clean air but it is important to review our current legislative framework for fuel quality to ensure we continue to have effective, efficient and appropriate means to support a clean air future.
Road transport emissions are a major contributor to air pollution, particularly in our urban communities. Since 2000, the number of vehicles on Australia's roads has increased by around a third and better fuel quality and emissions standards has ensured some good progress has been made.
The more we know about the effects of air pollution, the more important it is that fuel quality and emissions are effectively managed.
As the Australian community has interests in the environmental and vehicle operability issues relating to fuel quality, industry, businesses and members of the public will have the opportunity to provide input into the review.
It is expected a final report will be provided to the Government by November. The review will complement activities under the National Clean Air Agreement, which is currently being developed.
The review is also in line with the government's deregulation agenda which aims to reduce regulatory burden while achieving environmental outcomes.
Further information on national fuel quality and fuel quality information standards and how to contribute to the Review is available atwww.environment.gov.au/fuelquality
Abbott Government invests further $40 million to address gaps in frontline community services
Longest ever tiger shark tracking reveals remarkable, bird-like migrations
June 9, 2015 - Tiger sharks are among the largest and most recognizable sharks on the planet, yet many of their habits remain mysterious because they are long-distance travelers that are hard to track. But a new study, reported in the June 9 issue of the journal Scientific Reports, has yielded the first ever continuous, two or more-year satellite tagging tracks for the animals. This study reveals remarkable, and previously unknown, migration patterns more similar to birds, turtles and some marine mammals than other fishes.
Long believed to be mainly a coastal species, the tiger sharks, in fact, made more than 7,500 kilometer, round-trip journeys every year between two vastly different ecosystems -- the coral reefs of the Caribbean and the open waters of the mid-North Atlantic. Furthermore, they returned reliably to the same overwintering areas each year, a discovery with significant conservation implications.
The study was led by James Lea and Brad Wetherbee, Ph.D., co-first authors, and senior author, Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., all of whom work out of Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) Guy Harvey Research Institute in Florida. Renowned marine artist and conservationist Guy Harvey, a Ph.D. fisheries ecologist, is also an author on the paper and co-led the project's tagging work, which took place near Bermuda, in collaboration with the Bermuda Shark Project.
'As apex predators, the presence of tiger sharks -- and other large sharks -- is vital to maintain the proper health and balance of our oceans,' said Dr. Shivji, who is professor at NSU and also the director of NSU's GHRI. 'That's why it's so important to conserve them, and understanding their migratory behavior is essential to achieving this goal.'
Background
The details of the movements and migrations of tiger sharks and most other large shark species have been a mystery because they are difficult to track for more than a few months because of tag or other logistic limitations. For this project, the tags the team attached to sharks near Bermuda lasted in many cases more than two years, and in some cases more than three years, sending satellite position data each time an animal surfaced.
One tiger shark, named Harry Lindo, traveled more than 44,000 kilometers (27,000 miles), the longest track distance documented for a tiger shark and possibly the longest ever published for a shark.
'It is truly remarkable,' said Harvey of the animal's travels.
Tiger Shark Highway
The researchers were able to show that adult male tiger sharks in the Atlantic repeatedly spend their winters in Caribbean island locales including the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Anguilla. Then, during summers, they travel far into the North Atlantic, often more than 3,500 kilometers and as far north as Connecticut, though well offshore in nearly the middle of the ocean.
'These repeated journeys were very unexpected,' said Lea, who also works out of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 'The tiger shark has traditionally been considered a coastal species, and it is rare among sharks to so easily and habitually switch between the two vastly different environments.'
Remarkably, the sharks followed the same pattern each year and returned to almost the same small area in the Caribbean each time.
'Even though they've got a whole range of islands to choose from, it seems like each animal has its favorite winter spot,' said Shivji.
For the tiger sharks, the migrations are something like a 'highway road trip,' on their way to definite destinations. Bermuda is a handy spot for tiger shark tagging because it is the equivalent of a popular highway exit -- lots of animals stop off there for a break while heading north or south. But for the most part the animals travelled directly between their migration destinations, meandering around only after arriving.
Why They Go
What makes the tiger sharks so committed to particular areas is still an open question. At the south end, the story may be fairly simple. Female tiger sharks are common in the Caribbean in the winter, so the Caribbean may just be the best place for male tiger sharks to find dates, although this is just an educated guess.
Why they go so far north is more complicated. How far they go seems to be guided by avoidance of colder temperatures -- information that offers one example of how migration research can help to predict the implications of climate change for sharks.
'There's got to be something really good up there to make the sharks undertake such massive, repeated swims, but exactly what is a puzzle,' said Shivji.
One possibility is that they go to feed on young loggerhead turtles that also migrate north -- indeed when the researchers examined stomachs of some tiger sharks killed by long liners in the region, they found turtle remains. But then there are also turtles much farther south.
Great White Similarities
The only other instance where researchers have found a broadly similar, repeated migration pattern between coastal and distant open water regions is with the warm-bodied, great white and salmon sharks in the Pacific Ocean. White sharks migrate in the winter from the California and Baja coasts to a mid-Pacific open water area dubbed the 'White Shark Café.'
'We joke that tiger sharks, not being media stars like white sharks, wouldn't be comfortable in a 'café' and prefer to hang-out in their 'truck-stop' in the mid-Atlantic,' says Wetherbee, who is also based at the University of Rhode Island.
Conservation Implications
Tiger sharks are nearing threatened status, in part because of targeting for the soup fin trade. One of the most important implications of the new research, therefore, is for conservation.
'Understanding how these animals use the oceans is the first step toward effective conservation,' said Harvey. 'Protecting migratory species is a great challenge because they can be found in such a wide area. Protecting the areas where animals, such as tiger sharks, spend the most time is a tractable goal once those areas have been identified.'
Guided in part by early access to the GHRI team's data about the importance of the Bahamas habitat to the tiger shark's annual migratory pathways, The Bahamas government established a shark sanctuary in 2011 prohibiting commercial shark fishing in their territorial waters.
How to Follow Sharks
All of the satellite tracks for tiger sharks in this study, as well as ongoing tracks for other species including mako sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks and marlins, can be found online atwww.ghritracking.org
1. James S. E. Lea, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Nuno Queiroz, Neil Burnie, Choy Aming, Lara L. Sousa, Gonzalo R. Mucientes, Nicolas E. Humphries, Guy M. Harvey, David W. Sims, Mahmood S. Shivji. Repeated, long-distance migrations by a philopatric predator targeting highly contrasting ecosystems. Scientific Reports, 2015; 5: 11202 DOI:10.1038/srep11202
Top: This is the tiger shark from a side view. Credit: Courtesy of Nick Filmalter/Danah Divers
A Swift Exit For Tasmanian Parrot
10/06/15: BirdLife Australia
The Swift Parrot is on track to extinction at a faster rate than almost any other Australian bird. BirdLife Australia’s Head of Conservation, Samantha Vine, explains why.
Above: The Critically Endangered Swift Parrot. Photo by Chris Tzaros
With their vibrant colors, cheerful calls and fast-flying athleticism, it’s hard not to love the Swift Parrot. Yet the bird has a history of provoking animosity, with the parrot regularly finding itself at the centre of a conflict that has divided communities for decades: the management of Tasmanian forests.
The species became infamous in 2006 when the Federal Court of Australia ruled that forestry operations in Tasmania’s Wielangta area were likely “to have a significant impact on the Swift Parrot by reducing part of its prime nesting habitat, being habitat used by it when suitable foraging conditions exist.”
Yet logging of Swift Parrot breeding habitat continues apace under a deal between the Tasmanian and Commonwealth Governments, known as the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA). Under the RFA legislation, any deals reached are exempted from the protective provisions of the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act (EPBC) which are in place to protect endangered species.
Although they spend their winters foraging across Victoria, NSW, the ACT and Queensland, the less than 1,000 pairs of remaining Swift Parrots rely on Tasmania’s mature eucalypt forests to breed. As stated in the 2011 National Recovery Plan for the Swift Parrot, “the persistence of this species is mainly threatened by loss and alteration of habitat from forestry activities…”
Above: Forest loss in Tasmania's Southern Forests Swift Parrot Important Breeding Area (SPIBA) between 200-2012 (red) alongside the remaining fragments of Swift Parrot breeding habitat (blue). Map supplied by Dejan Stojanovic
Recent revelations that the Tasmanian Government ignored the expert advice of its own scientists and allowed Swift Parrot breeding habitat to be logged shine some light on how this threat is allowed to continue. Documents obtained under Tasmanian Freedom of Information laws show that the Tasmanian Environment Department (DPIPWE) sought specialist expert advice regarding five proposed logging coupes within an identified ‘Swift Parrot Important Breeding Area’ in the Southern Forests. The expert advice warned that logging in the coupes would result in the loss of critical breeding habitat and interfere with the recovery of the species. Yet, despite the advice, the Department approved logging in three of the five coupes for which information was provided.
The documents reveal that the Tasmanian government is both aware of the risk posed to Swift Parrots by ongoing logging of its habitat, and that it will permit logging to occur irrespective of clear, strongly worded expert advice to the contrary.
Since these revelations, more evidence points to a systemic problem. Bruny Island is a critical refuge for Swift Parrots. Nevertheless, Swift Parrot breeding habitat on the island is currently being logged. Logging is also proposed adjacent to the beautiful Inala Private Reserve, which was fortunately protected by a conservation covenant as part of BirdLife Australia’s Woodland Birds for Biodiversity Project. As well as being home to Swift Parrots, Inala provides habitat for Forty-spotted Pardalote, the Tasmanian subspecies of Wedge-tailed Eagle, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, white morph of the Grey Goshawk, and Masked Owl. Almost 100 species of birds have been recorded at Inala and the nature-based tourism venture directly employs seven Bruny Islanders and several local businesses to provide services such as catering. Yet Forestry Tasmania has served notice of intent to clearfell the neighbouring property (identified as Coupe SB016B) in October this year. In April, local businesses and landowners called for immediate cessation of logging Bruny Island coupes known to contain Swift Parrot nests.
The logging of documented nesting sites raises uncomfortable questions about why logging is still allowed in critical areas for Swift Parrots. Management tools like the ‘Threatened Fauna Advisor’ and the ‘Swift Parrot Interim Habitat Planning Guideline’ are already available and a great start for managing the competing interests of logging and Swift Parrots. However, the Freedom of Information documents and current logging of known breeding habitat on Bruny Island and in the Southern Forests points to a systemic failure of governance that could drive the species to extinction in the very near future.
In recognition of the very high risk of extinction the parrot now faces, BirdLife Australia is calling for an immediate halt to all logging of Swift Parrot breeding habitat until we can be certain that enough breeding habitat is protected.
Ongoing habitat loss will likely worsen the situation, which makes it all the more imperative that logging of Swift Parrot breeding habitat on Bruny Island—which is free from Sugar Gliders—immediately and permanently cease.
We rely on our governments to look after our threatened species. Yet the situation in Tasmania demonstrates a breach of faith with the public, who have trusted both the State and Commonwealth Governments to protect this iconic species.
With deforestation in core breeding habitat still happening today in Tasmania, BirdLife Australia’s Threatened Species Committee and Research and Conservation Committee found that the species satisfied the criteria for listing as Critically Endangered under the EPBC Act. A nomination to the Federal Government has been submitted.
Swift Parrots are one of only three migratory parrots on the planet. To lose them due to a failure in governance is simply unconscionable. For so long as Forestry Tasmania continues to log known Swift Parrot breeding habitat it contradicts the principles of sustainable forest management, and BirdLife Australia will continue to oppose their application for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification.
The Regional Forestry Agreement that exempts Forestry Tasmania from our national environmental law expires in 2017 and BirdLife Australia will fight to ensure that the Commonwealth can once again intervene if the State continues to drive a species down the path to extinction. We also continue to oppose the handover of Commonwealth environmental approval powers to any state or territory under the proposed ‘one-stop-shop’ arrangements. Because the Swift Parrot is a matter of national environmental significance it belongs to all Australians—just like koalas or the Great Barrier Reef—and a federal safeguard should always exist so that a State Government can’t permit extinction just because it is inconvenient for the profit line of vested interests.
Volunteers needed to survey for Swift Parrots in 2015
Each year since 1999 hundreds of dedicated volunteers survey for the now Critically Endangered Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater. Both of these species are highly nomadic and travel the south-east of the continent in search of food. The Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater survey weekends are on the third weekend in May and first weekend in August each year. They provide critical long-term data on the movements, habitat use and population size of the Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater. If you cannot do a survey on those dates, we are happy for people to get out a week either side of those weekends. Incidental sightings are always welcome, as we maintain a database of sightings for both species.
For more information about the Swift Parrot surveys and to get involved go to birdlife.org.au/projects/woodland-birds-for-biodiversity