The Moorabool Shire Council is calling on the Victorian government and Transurban to half all talks surrounding the dumping of contaminated soil from the West Gate tunnel project.
Mayor David Edwards said discussions surrounding the use of the Maddingley Brown Coal site at Bacchus Marsh to dump the soil should be stopped until the COVID-19-induced state of emergency is lifted.
Cr Edwards asked for a guarantee that once discussions resume, six strict conditions are met prior to any decision being made on whether the soil would be stored at Bacchus Marsh.
They include a demand that all technical reports be made available to the council, for public scrutiny, comment and for the opportunity for independent peer review.
He also called for proper stakeholder and community consultation; improved relationships with the local community and stakeholders; details of how the local community will potentially be impacted or will benefit from the proposal; and that the existing MBC sites be brought into compliance with current planning requirements.
Cr Edwards wants all local MPs and council notified prior to a decision being made.
“During these times, where the ability of the community to assemble is restricted, it is more important than ever that the needs of those impacted are not washed away to satisfy the needs of big business,” Cr Edwards said.
“The community cannot have any confidence in the decision-making process unless the conditions are met.”
He said the process so far had not been anywhere near acceptable for the community.
“For a project of this size to have undertaken no economic impact assessment is extraordinary,” he said.
“A proper analysis of the benefits and disbenefits of the project should be undertaken before any decision is made and must include an assessment of the millions of dollars likely to be lost to the local economy due largely to reputational damage.”
He said the council was still in the dark as to how heavily the community may be impacted if a decision is made to send the soil to Bacchus Marsh.
“It has been several months since council first learnt of this proposal and despite constantly requesting information and seeking input to the process, we still have no information on the technical assessments carried out, or about how the Bacchus Marsh community will potentially be impacted, or benefit from, becoming a dumping ground for tonnes of contaminated soil.”
