SENT: 30 JAN 2017

Dear Mayor, Councillors, CEO and relevant council officers,

We are writing once again to bring our concerns about turbidity in the creeks originating on and flowing through the KUR-World project site on Barnwell Road, Myola. These are habitat for the Kuranda Tree Frog and we request urgent action from council to help ensure the survival of this IUCN-listed endangered and highly endemic species.

We understand, according to a recent letter from Simon Stirrat, Principal Environmental Assessment Officer at the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, that council have responsibility for investigating this turbidity:

Simon Stirrat wrote:
‘under the Environmental Protection Act, local governments investigate activities that cause turbidity in waterways. In this case if there is something wrong it would be a breach of Section 440ZG of the EP Act. To paraphrase Section 440ZG, it states that you can’t unlawfully deposit a prescribed water contaminant (in this case ‘earth’ or soil) in waters, gutters or stormwater drainage. So the right authority to go to with concerns about water quality caused by badly managed storm water run off or land clearing or earthworks that result in erosion, causing unusual turbidity, would be the Mareeba Shire Council. EHP is responsible where the problem is caused by someone operating under an Environmental Authority issued by us under the EP Act, such as a coal mine or quarry where earthworks occur. As far as I am aware, no such authority has been issued for this project but the council would be aware of it, or whether a development application under the planning legislation has been approved.’

  Following the most recent rains, we took photographs indicating that once again the creeks are turbid. We issued a media release about this http://kurandaregion.org/media-release-kur-world-12-january-2017/, which elicited an interesting response in the Cairns Post from Neil Boland ,the latest environmental consultant retained by developer Ken Lee. An image of the article is pasted below.
 Mr Boland was reported as saying that he has been monitoring the creeks in recent months and that water flowing onto the site is in worse condition than water flowing from it!As private individuals, we are not in a position to establish the veracity of Mr Boland’s claims, although we have written to him seeking his data.
We ask that your officers give priority to establishing(1) whether there is significant ongoing pollution of these creeks
(2) who/what is responsible, and
(3) what can be done to ensure there are no further assaults on the habitat of the Kuranda tree frog.

We would be glad to provide your Department with further information to assist them, and ask that this matter is given priority. The Wet Season has arrived in FNQ and more rain is expected soon.

We would be grateful to hear back from you about this matter as soon as possible.

Regards,
Sarah

Sarah Isaacs for KRPG