The Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council believed that COAL projects in the Maryborough basin are likely to be constrained by new Federal Government water resource regulations.

Ms Emma Kate Currie WBBEC regional environment coordinator said that the new rules for export coal and CSG projects is likely to be a significant impediment to all coal mining companies looking to access the Maryborough basin coking coal deposits.

Ms Kate said that "International Coal who are looking at the basin resources around Bundaberg, and Newhope Mining who own the Colton Coal mine proposal and Tiaro Coal who are looking at extracting the coking coal deposits of the Maryborough basin, located at Tanyalba creek near Gundiah, will all now have to get their acts about water resource impacts together. They all will need to convince the Federal Environment Minister that they can protect the local groundwater aquifers, as well as the Mary and Kolan Rivers."

Mr Roger Currie president of WBBEC said that the proposed open cut Colton Coal mine environmental management plan had already revealed 3 kilometers radius impact was likely to occur to groundwater from the footprint which had a pit depth of 80 meters. This means that the groundwater of the Maryborough basin in the headwaters of the Susan River will be impacted and the project is having great difficulty convincing DEHP that they can protect the high ecological values of the Mary River."

He said that "It will be very difficult to envisage that any of these companies can ensure that the water resources of the Mary/Burnett catchment, won't be impacted by open cut coal mining, and this is in an economic climate of downward prices and demand for coking coal globally.”

He added that the people of the Mary and Burnett catchments can rest assured that there will be no 'tick and flick approvals' by the state of Queensland for mining in the both of these catchments. WBBEC applauds the Federal Coalition for supporting this important legislation.