A Scoping Report for the Winterbourne Wind Farm has been lodged with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. The report provides a project description and identifies the scale and type of potential impacts. The Department will now review the report and will seek advice from local Council and other government agencies about what should be included in the Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) for this project.
What are the next steps towards project approval?
Once the SEARs are issued, we will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS will provide more detailed information on the project, including its environmental, social and economic impacts and mitigation measures. We’ll be conducting further environmental studies and seeking feedback from the community over 2020 and early 2021 to inform the preparation of our EIS.
EPBC referral – further work is happening
The findings of the preliminary environmental investigations carried out to inform the Scoping Report have confirmed the presence of matters of national environmental significance within the project boundary. As some known or likely species, including tiger quolls and koalas, are listed as threatened species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, further work is required to ensure any potential negative impacts are carefully considered and addressed. The WinterbourneWind project will be referred to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Energy for assessment and approval.
