We’ve made a submission on the environmental impact statement of the Stratford coal project, on behalf of the Barrington-Gloucester-Stroud Preservation Alliance.  The submission has already been getting some media attention, here’s the story in the Gloucester Advocate.

Here is the original economic assessment, by Gillespie Economics.  Our criticisms include:

• Misleading use of socio-economic assessment results in executive summary and project justification
• Viability of the project
  • Estimates of coal price and project net present value
  • Failure to justify return to 24 hour mining
  • Final voids
• Scope of the assessment  Particularly relating to:
  • Benefits accruing to Australia and overseas
  • Greenhouse gas emissions
• Social value of employment
• Noise, dust, air quality and amenity impacts
• Social impacts
• Flora and fauna
• Inappropriate use of input-output modelling in impact assessment