Tasmanian court challenge looms for ‘unlawful’ St Patricks Plains wind farm approval

Approval for a wind farm projected to kill up to 81 endangered eagles is set to be challenged in Tasmania’s Supreme Court, with a lawyer describing it as a ‘new low’.

Wildlife expert Nick Mooney at Roaring Beach Wildlife Refuge, Tasmania, with a rescued wedge tailed eagle thought to have been injured by hitting a wire. Picture: Peter Mathew

Approval for a wind farm projected to kill up to 81 endangered eagles is set to be challenged in Tasmania’s Supreme Court”.

The 47-turbine, 300MW St Patricks Plains Wind Farm was given planning approval by the Central Highlands Council on Tuesday, but the lawyer for local opponents, Dominica Tannock, on Wednesday claimed the process was “unlawful”.

“The decision was a new low – the council, with their lawyer present, heard that councillors hadn’t even read the material that they were voting on,” Ms Tannock told The Australian.

Some councillors indicated they felt they had to support the assessment of an external consultant and the state Environment Protection Authority, she said. This ignored their legal responsibility to consider those assessments, along with any con­flicting evidence, and make their own planning decision.

“They outsourced their responsibilities to external consultants who hadn’t assessed the impacts on all of the adjoining neighbours, and who said it was outside the jurisdiction of council to consider noise and environmental issues, which is not true,” Ms Tannock said.

“Councillors had been given 2½ days by the general manager of council to process thousands of pages of complex facts and information.

“They said ‘Look, we didn’t have a chance to read this and we’re told we had no choice but to vote for it’.

“This is appalling decision-making … affecting protected ­species of national importance.”

Mayor Loueen Triffitt, council general manager Kim Hossack, and acting general manager Adam Wilson are yet to respond and wind farm proponent Ark Energy, a subsidiary of Korea Zinc, declined to comment.

Ms Tannock said she would meet her client, the No Turbine Action Group, on Friday to discuss a potential Supreme Court challenge that would seek to quash the council decision, with costs against it, and obtain an order that the project be assessed again, this time lawfully, she said.

The project has been approved by the EPA, whose report suggests the 231m-high turbines will kill 41 to 81 wedge-tailed eagles across the farm’s 30-year lifespan, based on mitigation reducing 58.5 per cent of collisions.

The proponent argues its use of technology to halt turbines when eagles approach could further improve collision reduction to 85 per cent, and deaths to as few as 11 to 33 over 30 years.

Eight eagles have been killed at a neighbouring Cattle Hill Wind Farm in the past four years, despite use of the same “Identiflight” collision avoidance technology.

• Contrary to a report on Wednesday, Ark Energy advises it has never received a supportive message from state Energy and Renewables Minister Nick Duigan.

Mr Duigan was recently revealed to have sent such a message to the developer of an unrelated wind farm.