September 26, 2012
Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group spokesman John Dalton said this evening the Queensland Ombudsman’s report into the Cougar Energy UCG approval process “painted an interesting picture”.
“We always suspected that due process wasn’t carried out and now we’re sure of it,” he said.
He said the Ombudsman had “laid it bare” and “any government worth its salt will now make sure that this won’t happen again”.
Mr Dalton said he was particularly concerned with apparent lack of expertise now present in the government departments described in the report.
“They’re operating out of a real deficit model,” he said.
He also believed the government had “lowered the bar” for the Cougar Energy project.
“Because it was novel and new technology, the government lowered the bar rather than raised it,” he said.
He was pleased that the Ombudsman had commented on the lack of community consultation: “You should never consider no complaints as community approval.”
Mr Dalton said the Ombudsman’s report made it clear the project should never have occurred in the first place; the earlier report by the Independent Scientific Panel had also stated the trial site was not optimal.
“Because if this, there should be no chance of it ever starting up again,” he said.
Mr Dalton said the KCCG believed the State Government should now force Cougar Energy to start decomissioning the plant.
However he wasn’t confident the government knows what to tell Cougar: “They’ve got no expertise. The industry is wagging the dog in this case.”
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