Queensland Hydro buys 29 properties for dam in Pioneer Valley
Labor has spent a whopping figure snapping up properties west of Mackay despite only announcing its vision to build the world’s biggest pumped hydro scheme there late last year. FIND OUT HOW MUCH.
Mackay
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Labor has already spent close to $22m snapping up dozens of Pioneer Valley properties despite only announcing its vision to build the world’s biggest pumped hydro scheme there late last year.
Under the entity Queensland Hydro Pty Ltd, formerly registered as 239 George Pty Ltd, Labor has this year spent $21,689,849 buying 29 properties, of which at least 20 had homes on, in and around Netherdale in the Eungella district, 75km west of Mackay.
There are three dams detailed for the $12bn-plus Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro project, including a lower reservoir at Netherdale, which would require 50 established homes to be either relocated or destroyed.
Capricornia MP Michelle Landry said she learned about Queensland Hydro’s property collection after a Mackay region real estate agent, who did not wish to be named, raised the alarm.
“I’m dead against (the dam),” the LNP member said.
“And federally, I’ve had David Littleproud up there … and he has said a returning coalition government would not support this project.
“To make it the largest pumped hydro in the world in the Pioneer Valley and just destroy the whole environment up there is absolutely crazy.”
In October, Queensland Hydro – the state-government owned entity overseeing the project – declined to divulge how many landowners had sold their properties through a “voluntary acquisition” process.
This publication asked again in November, including what Labor’s plans were if landowners refused to sell their property, but has not received a response.
Ms Landry said landowners were feeling the pressure of either selling up now or risking getting less for their properties if and when the dam was a sure thing.
She further alleged the Labor government had devised the hydro project to appease its green-orientated voters in South East Queensland but said many of those were ignorant of the true environmental impacts, including to the beloved platypus which Eungella is famous for.
She has now launched a petition to “Save Eungella” and said there were more than 3000 signatures so far.
Ms Landry further called on the state government to be more forthcoming with what its dam required, including whether its SuperGrid needed two sets of transmission lines from the dam to handle the generated electricity.
A Queensland Hydro spokeswoman earlier told this publication that a new Queensland Energy System Advisory Board would give its first updates on the SuperGrid Infrastructure Blueprint in 2025.
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