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Wednesday, February 21, 2018
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Mt Emerald progress
FIFTEEN of 53 windmills have been built at Mount Emerald Wind Farm. Turn to Page 3 to find out about how the endangered quoll is being protected throughout the project.
Nullinga shelved By Rebecca Wallis
The proposed Nullinga Dam will be further investigated says Building Queensland who released a statement last week claiming that preliminary investigations showed there was not enough viability for the project. In the statement Building Queensland Chief Executive Of-
ficer Damien Gould said despite initially putting the idea on the back-burner, “industry has provided information” that warrants further investigation. “When we were looking at it the uptake of 100 per cent of water from Nullinga could not have been met in the short term, but since then MSF has come forward and put more figures on the table and talked about what they
could possibly use for further expansion west and therefore that now triggers this option,” said Joe Moro, chairman of the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Scheme. “It’s good that we are still progressing on the issue. I’m sure not everybody’s happy because some people are sick of reports and just want the dam to be built but this is the process
we’re in and the government has at least made an indication that they feel the demand triggers have been met.” The preliminary business case investigated the potential for Nullinga Dam and other options to address the identified future water supply shortfall to service growing urban demand in Cairns and to stimulate irrigated agriculture in the region
by supplementing existing supplies. Member for Kennedy Bob Katter was scathing about the report and felt it was indicating that Nullinga would never go ahead. He wants renewed efforts put into secondary options including the North Johnson scheme and Quaids Dam. “The North Johnson transfer is now right on the table and I
will call a series of meetings to secure the North Johnson scheme,” he said. “The former Mayor of Atherton Jim Chapman said plans were drawn when Tinaroo was built to divert water from the North Johnston River so we will get these plans and move immediately. Continued P3
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