Environmental concerns over Great Keppel Island resort

Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information reveal that the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) identified serious concerns with a huge marina development it later approved.

Both the Queensland and Federal governments have given the green light to a $600 million eco-tourism resort on Great Keppel Island, the first major development within the reef in over 20 years.

However, in approving the development's marina and sewage systems, the GBRMPA found the proponent's environmental impact statement was contradictory, vague and missing a substantial amount of information.

GBRMPA staff officers also warned that the impacts of the development on water quality and coral communities on nearby vulnerable reefs could not be adequately mitigated.

But just two months later, the GBRMPA approved the development subject to conditions.

The Great Keppel Island ‘premier eco-luxury’ resort will feature a 250-room beachfront hotel, 350 apartments, and 700 luxury villas.

The developer, Tower Holdings, says the project has been designed to be "a world leader in global environmental tourism" and will produce more clean energy than it uses by employing 24,000 solar panels.

The resort will also have a 250-berth marina and championship golf course designed by Greg Norman.

The former world number one golfer is an enthusiastic supporter and is quoted on the resort's website as saying that nowhere in the world "matches the offering of this place."

However, the ABC reports that it took Tower Holdings seven years to win official support for the resort project.

It won Federal approval in March last year. But owing to environmental concerns, the then Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke attached 96 conditions, including management plans over the resort's impact on corals and marine species.

At the time, Minister Burke stated "the conditions I have imposed will ensure that the outstanding universal value of the Great Barrier Reef is not diminished by this development."

The Queensland Government had approved the project just days earlier.

But before the company could start any work it needed approval from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, because the resort would include a marina, breakwaters, and a sewage transfer facility that would lie within the marine park.

According to GBRMPA, the proposed marina would be just 100 metres from a coral reef that was classified as a sensitive environment.

Documents obtained by the ABC under freedom of information have revealed that after a long process, officers from the GBRMPA floated two options.

One was to "approve the application with strict conditioning."

Those conditions included a limit to the amount of nitrogen that could be discharged, meaning the developer would have to treat any sewage to a higher standard.

Then there was the second option the authority could take and that was to reject the application.

That rejection would be based on the conclusion that "the information provided by the (environmental impact statement) with which to make an accurate assessment for a proposed sewage discharge pipeline and sewage irrigation scheme is often contradictory, vague or missing entirely."

There was also a concern that "the concentration of nutrients in the sewage that the resort would discharge was too high," and that "the water quality guidelines for nitrogen at Great Keppel Island are already exceeded and freshwater wet season plumes from the Fitzroy have resulted in coral bleaching at the island."

The document added "The cumulative impacts of this development on water quality and coral communities on the vulnerable fringing reefs of Great Keppel Island cannot be adequately mitigated.”

GBRMPA officers also warned that the discharge risk would be heightened even further because the size of the proposed sewage storage pond was too small.

A couple of months after these concerns were raised inside the GBRMPA, the organisation issued a permit for the development of the 250-berth marina, sewage facility, and other projects to go ahead.

For more information on the Great Keppel Island development can be viewed at www.gkiresort.com.au

2nd March 2013 - GREAT KEPPEL ISLAND RESORT REDEVELOPMENT GETS QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT APPROVAL 

2nd June 2012 - UNESCO REPORT SLAMS GREAT BARRIER REEF MANAGEMENT 

11th August 2009 - HARM TO BARRIER REEF WOULD COST TOURISM $37 BILLION

28th April 2009 - FITZROY ISLAND RESORT GOES INTO RECEIVERSHIP

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