Powerlink Queensland is planning to construct a new 860 km electricity transmission line from Townsville to Mount Isa, formally referred to as the CopperString 2032 Project.
Aiming to connect Queensland’s Northwest Minerals Province to the National Electricity Market, this project is scheduled to commence construction in 2024 in four distinct stages.
The Project has been referred to the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water for assessment of potential impacts to Matters of National Environmental Significance under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The referral decision deemed the Project to be a ‘controlled action’, determining that controlling provisions were necessary for listed threatened communities, threatened species, and migratory species.
Our Services
E2M was engaged by Powerlink to conduct a terrestrial ecological desktop assessment for Stages 1 to 3 of the CopperString Project, extending from Mt Isa to Hughenden to identify potential suitable properties in proximity to the Project site to support offsets for the impacted species.
The scope of works for the offset suitability assessment included:
- A comprehensive desktop review of available mapping and environmental database records for the target species and their habitats
- A comprehensive review of the species habitat criteria forming the basis of habitat modelling prepared
- The use of vegetation mapping, topography, and existing survey data for habitat quality assessments to determine suitable properties for habitat offsets for the target species.
Outcomes
The assessment provided Powerlink with an understanding of potential offset availability under three different scenarios, together with recommendations on the most promising approach on offset delivery.
E2M was subsequently engaged by Powerlink to undertake a more detailed assessment of two of the priority properties to inform decisions around the purchasing of offset properties.
