Environmental Justice Australia has made a submission to the NSW Independent Planning Commission on the proposed restart of the Redbank Power Station by Verdant Earth Technologies Limited.
The project proposes to burn up to 700,000 tonnes of biomass each year to generate electricity. EJA opposes approval of the project, raising serious concerns about its environmental, climate and health impacts.
Our key concerns include:
- Increased land clearing: The project would drive large-scale clearing of native vegetation, without any comprehensive assessment of the biodiversity impacts.
- A market for habitat destruction: By creating demand for biomass, the project risks incentivising logging of forests and woodlands, placing critical ecosystems at further risk.
- Climate and health harms: Burning biomass produces more CO₂ per unit of energy than coal, undermining emissions reduction goals and worsening air quality in a region already heavily affected by pollution.
Recommendations
While our primary position is that the project should be refused, we also highlighted that, if approved, conditions must be significantly strengthened to reduce emissions, prohibit native forest biomass, and introduce real-time air quality monitoring to protect community health.
