Glencore carbon capture plan hits opposition from Premier Steven Miles

A controversial plan to pump liquid carbon dioxide into Queensland’s greatest underground water network is unlikely to get environmental approval, Premier Steven Miles has said.

A controversial plan to pump liquid carbon dioxide into Queensland’s greatest underground water network is unlikely to get environmental approval, Premier Steven Miles has said, in a major win for concerned graziers.

In a bid to protect the Great Artesian Basin, Mr Miles also signalled potential tough new regulations to prevent the tussle again.

But Queensland’s powerful farming peak body has warned Glencore’s carbon capture storage project in the basin needs to be killed off by the federal government, not just stalled at a state level.

AgForce chief executive Mike Guerin, whose organisation has vowed to put its entire balance sheet on the line to stop Glencore’s project happening in the basin, said federal regulation was needed to protect the basin.

Farmers are concerned pumping liquid carbon dioxide within the basin – which covers 1.7 million square kilometres and 22 per cent of Australia – will do irreparable harm to the main water source for much of inland Queensland and NSW.

Glencore has maintained the project is safe and that there is no risk to the water supply.

Hancock Agriculture, owned by Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart and with 12 properties in the basin, has declared the project’s risk unacceptable.

AgForce launched legal action against the federal government last month in a bid to force its hand, arguing the project should be approved under national environmental law rather than through Queensland’s processes.

Premier Steven Miles at Rockhampton. Picture: Annette Dew

In 2022, the Coalition government told Glencore it had decided the project didn’t need further assessment or approval at a federal level and left the environmental controls to Queensland.

The state’s decision on the project’s environmental impact statement is due by May 27.

Mr Miles, speaking in Rockhampton on Wednesday, said he did not expect the project to pass the test.

“I think it’s unlikely to pass that environmental test, but it’s an important and independent process so I’ll let that run its course and once it has run its course then I’ll have more to say about longer-term policy options,” he said.

“(The project) doesn’t sound like a good idea to me … the groundwater that is relied upon by our farmers isn’t worth risking.”

In a significant mea culpa, federal opposition agriculture spokesman David Littleproud, a key Coalition frontbencher when the project was waved through, admitted they had made a mistake.

“It was not appropriate … unfortunately the minister at the time in 2022 (Sussan Ley) didn’t see fit to do a proper review (through federal environmental laws) and that was a mistake, and I’m not afraid to say it,” he said.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said he was concerned about the potential impact of a carbon capture storage project on the Great Artesian Basin but declined to delve into the issue considering the ongoing court action.

AgForce, Hancock Agriculture and Mr Littleproud all confirmed they supported carbon capture and storage as a concept, but opposed it happening in the basin.