QUEENSLAND farmers remain concerned and uncertain about the impact on local properties of the state government's conditional approval yesterday of the $6.4 billion Hancock Alpha Coal Project in the Galilee Basin.
They fear the vast mine could jeopardise water flows and increase floods in one of Queensland's most important flood plains, between Clermont and Mackay, and put a stop to irrigation and food production expansion earmarked for the region.
AgForce councillor and local producer Peter Anderson is worried that a large tract of productive farmland will be lost because 495km of new railway linked to the Alpha mine crossing the fertile Mistake Creek, Suttor and Belyando flood plain had been ignored. "While the announcement does bring to an end three years of uncertainty for local primary producers, the resulting impacts on future production capability and environmental health could be dire," Mr Anderson said.
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The Australian
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