This week the NSW Department of Planning returned Daracon's EIS which had been submitted for a "test for adequacy" in July.
In their letter the Department of Planning has identified a number of areas of the EIS that fails to address assessment requirements relating to noise, traffic, transport, air quality, water, land biodiversity and rehabilitation. You can find a link to the advice here. The EIS will need to be updated and revised to address these deficiencies.
The NSW Planning Department has also highlighted that the project has now been declared a controlled action by the Commonwealth Department of Environment and the revised EIS will now also need to include relevant matters of national environmental significance. The declaration has been issued because Daracon's proposed expansion if approved would impact upon matters of national environmental significance including;
- Slaty Red Gum – Vulnerable;
- Koala – Vulnerable;
- Regent Honeyeater – Critically Endangered;
- Swift Parrot – Critically Endangered; and
- Spot-tailed Quoll – Endangered.
So …. it looks like Daracon will be back to the drawing board with more work to be done on the EIS. The waiting game continues.