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Parliamentary Questions


Question On Notice No. 2797 asked in the Legislative Council on 13 February 2020 by Hon Robin Chapple

Question Directed to the: Minister for Environment
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Tabled Paper No: 3685- View tabled paper


Question

I refer to the Fortescue Marsh, and to the Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) Cloudbreak mine operations, and the following monitoring bores (CBFMM01-CBFMM08 inclusive), and their respective locations: (720703 7531612), (727558.7 7527940), (734697 7527655), (746758 7523454), (740435.9 7524558), (751176 7521806), (755273 7520434), and I ask:

(a) what are the current baseline groundwater levels for each of the above bores;
(b) have baseline groundwater levels changed at any stage for any of the above bores since 1 January 2010;
(c) if yes to (b), can the Minister please state the baseline groundwater levels, as split out by bore and date of change(s), before and after any change(s) in baseline groundwater levels were made;
(d) if yes to (b), what were the reasons for those changes;
(e) if yes to (b), were these changes approved by the Department;
(f) what are the trigger groundwater levels for each of the above bores;
(g) have these trigger groundwater levels changed at any stage for any of the above bores since 1 January 2010;
(h) if yes to (g), can the Minister please state the trigger groundwater levels, as split out by bore and date of change(s), before and after the change(s) in trigger groundwater levels were made;
(i) if yes to (g), what were the reasons for those changes;
(j) if yes to (g), were these changes approved by the Department;
(k) can the Minister please table the annual results of monitoring, as submitted by FMG, for each of the years dating back to 1 January 2010;
(l) have groundwater levels, at any or all of the above-listed bores, risen or fallen by more than 1.0 metres from the baseline groundwater level, at any stage in any year, dating back to 1 January 2010;
(m) if yes to (l), on what dates did your Department receive notification(s) that groundwater levels at any or all of the above bores have risen or fallen by more than 1.0 metres from the baseline groundwater level;
(n) what is the function of the control bore; and
(o) how does the control bore differ from the groundwater monitoring bores listed above?
Answered on 17 March 2020

(a) The following table provides the observed minimum and maximum baseline groundwater levels for the monitoring bores.

BoreObserved minimum baseline groundwater levelObserved maximum baseline groundwater level
CBFMM01405.8406.2
CBFMM02405.3406.4
CBFMM04405.8406.2
CBFMM05405.6406.0
CBFMM06405.1406.3
CBFMM07405.3405.6
CBFMM08405.3405.7
(b) No

(c) – (e) Not applicable

(f) Ministerial Statement 962, Condition 7-1 includes trigger levels for groundwater. The levels of groundwater must not rise or drop by more than one metre from the established baseline groundwater level.

(g) No

(h) – (j) Not applicable

(k) Monitoring of groundwater levels under Condition 7 of Ministerial Statement 962 is submitted to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation by Fortescue Metals Group in an annual Compliance Assessment report by 31 March each year. The Ministerial Statement came into effect on 17 March 2014 and requires annual reporting for the calendar year. The first annual report was required by 31 March 2015.

The relevant excerpts from the Compliance Assessment reports for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 calendar years are tabled. In the 2017 Compliance Assessment Report, additional information was provided by Fortescue Metals Group in Appendix AB and Appendix Y, excerpts from these appendices are also tabled.

[See tabled paper no.].

(l) No

(m) Not applicable

(n)-(o) A control bore is a groundwater monitoring bore located outside the areas impacted by groundwater abstraction and injection associated with mining activities at the Cloudbreak mine. The function of the control bore is to provide a source of groundwater data that is not influenced by mining activities to enable the quantification of non-mining influences on groundwater levels such as rainfall. The function of the other groundwater monitoring bores are used to monitor groundwater to ensure mining activity impacts to groundwater do not exceed the established groundwater trigger levels.