Federal environmental assessment for contentious cable-car plans

Canberra has intervened over contentious plans to build a cable-car on Hobart’s Mount Wellington.

Residents Opposed to the Cable Car members Anita Pryor, Bronwyn Kimber, Sonia Caton and Phil Stigant at Sphinx Rock. Picture: Chris Crerar

Canberra has intervened over plans to build a cable-car on Hobart’s Mount Wellington, telling the proponent it may need a federal environmental assessment for the $50 million project.

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley confirmed her department’s compliance section had written to the proponent, following claims by residents that its failure to submit the project was a breach of federal law.

“The department … has written to Mount Wellington Cableway Company Pty Ltd to explain how the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Actcould apply to the proposal,” Ms Ley said. “Under the EPBC Act,a person must refer for approval any proposal that is likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance.”

Federal assessment creates another hurdle for the company, which has a development application before the Hobart City Council, and requires Wellington Park Management Trust approval for commercial operations.

The federal involvement followed correspondence to the department from Hobart resident Rodney Maier, who said the project was likely to impact on federally listed threatened species, including swift parrots, devils, quolls and wedge-tailed eagles.

“I … request you urgently call in the development application for review,” Mr Maier wrote.

The company had previously said the need for federal referral would depend on the outcome of impact studies.

Those studies, called inadequate by residents opposed to the project, are suggested to have played down the likely impact on federally listed threatened species on the 1271m mountain, also known as Kunanyi.

Company chairman Chris Oldfield confirmed it had received a letter from the department suggesting it may need to refer the project. “I spoke to them and said ‘Yeah, sure’,” Mr Oldfield said. “That was always our intention. It was just a matter of the timing. You don’t need to do this (EPBC referral) until you start construction. We’ve had a good conversation (with the department) and … we’ve told them that we intend to refer this to them.

“We want to make sure this sets the benchmark at a number of environmental levels.”

Mr Oldfield said the company was yet to form a view on whether the project would be a “controlled action” requiring detailed federal assessment.

University of Tasmania conservation ecologist Jamie Kirkpatrick said this was “definitely” the case, given likely impacts on a rare forest type that was known habitat for the critically endangered, EPBC-listed forest finger orchid. “I think it should be assessed under the EPBC Act; I don’t think there is any doubt about that,” Professor Kirkpatrick said. “It’s going to destroy part of the range of a nationally listed species, so it (federal assessment) should be a lay down misere.”

Residents Opposed to the Cable Car said federal assessment was vital to determine impacts on threatened birds. “Wedge-tailed eagles soaring above the Organ Pipes (rock formation) will be in direct conflict with the cables, as would the swift parrots at the first part of the cableway,” the group’s Phil Stigant said.

The project involves a 2.6km cableway, a summit visitor centre, base station and 2.4km road.