EYRE Peninsula's grower-owned agribusiness Free Eyre has released an environmental report for its deep sea export grain facility at Port Spencer, ready for public consultation.
"As a part of our approvals process to develop the Port Spencer facility, the State Government requested that we prepare a public environmental report," Free Eyre chief executive officer Mark Rodda said.
"This report highlights to the public and the relevant approving agencies, the amendments that our proposal seeks to implement, from those that were granted to Centrex Metals for their existing approvals to build a deep sea, iron ore export facility at Port Spencer."
All existing approvals for the State Government endorsed Major Project Status development were transferred to Peninsula Ports at that time.
"We have spent the best part of the past 12 months, working constructively with DPTI (Department, of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure) agencies, councils and other stakeholders, to prepare our reports," Mr Rodda said.
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"The PER is a document that explains the variations to the existing development approvals that were granted to Centrex.
"As we are a grain only receival and export facility, we have to explain how the site's operations will vary to that of the mixed iron ore and grain facility that had been approved.
"Ultimately, a facility designed for efficient grain export will aid in producing the best result for the farmers of EP. This design avoids the drag on efficiency and on capital expenditure caused by trying to cater for a wide variety of products.
"It will also have a significantly lower environmental footprint than one that is being built to cater to export and import a variety of commodities. To that end, even though our PER report is nearly 1000 pages, it is all about having independent experts modelling and quantifying how the variations to our land and port designed facilities will operate."
The PER for the Port Spencer Grain Export Facility has been released for public consultation until February 21.
The Amendment to the PER document is available from Council Chambers in Port Lincoln, Tumby Bay, Cleve and Lower Eyre or online, or here.
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