South Australian Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond says she now concedes that Point Lowly on Upper Spencer Gulf is the best place for BHP Billiton’s proposed desalination plant.
Ms Redmond had previously said the plant should be put somewhere on the west coast.
She says after meetings with BHP Billiton she is now satisfied the plant will not cause any damage to the local environment, including the area’s giant cuttlefish population.
“For instance, they’re going to now take the outfall much further out and so because the outfall is so much further and so much deeper, it’s like three kilometres at least, back up stream as it were, to the nearest cuttlefish and 10 kilometres to the main cuttlefish breeding grounds,” she said.
“In fact, according to them [BHP], they couldn’t damage the cuttlefish, even if they were trying to, so … I’m relatively satisfied that they have done the right thing and that we can safely proceed with the desal plant there.”
The desalination plant will support outback mining expansion.
