Latest update – April 2025
The final hearing of the Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland (EnvA) versus:
- Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation
- Blue Energy Ltd, and
- Eureka Petroleum Pty Ltd
was held on 25 March 2025 with the judgement handed down on 3 April 2025.
🎉 We are claiming this outcome as a fantastic win for the environment! 🎉
Key outcomes:
🍃 Blue Energy has reduced the development footprint from 31,500ha to 7,630ha – a reduction of about 80%
🍃The number of gas wells has been slashed from 530 to 117 – a reduction of 77%
🍃There are now stronger conditions to help protect threatened species and communities and to safe-guard the ground water, and
🍃We hope that the Queensland Government now understands that assessments of applications must be through and not just a desk-top analysis.
Background to this legal challenge
Let’s start with a summary of EnvA’s issues with the proposed Blue Energy coal seam gas project:
Blue Energy received approval to drill 530 gas wells for their Bowen Basin coal seam gas project. A project that will span across more than 1000 ha, which includes prime habitat for koalas, greater gliders, and squatter pigeons.
Not only was the wildlife survey incomplete, we also have very real concerns that the 1.1 km deep drilling will penetrate freshwater aquifers and potentially contaminate or drain local groundwater supplies.
The Queensland Government ignored the concerns of Isaac Regional Council, the community and the conservation sector and provided an approval of this project. This continues a long list of poor asssessments of coal and gas projects here in Central Queensland.
It was time to fight back and make sure that the Department of Environmental and Science improves its approval process to make sure that our water, wildlife and reef are adequately protected from fossil fuel developments.
EnvA launched a legal challenge in the Land Court
EnvA engaged the fabulous legal team at the Environmental Defenders Office to challenge the Queensland government’s approval of an environmental authority for this project! Our appeal was lodged in August 2023 and continued on for the next 20 months.
Legal challenges are costly, but we fully believe that we need to send a strong message to the Queensland Government that our environment and climate are more important than a company’s profits and the small economic contribution to the State.
EnvA - CQ 