The Biodiversity Council welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Hunter Transmission Project. The New South Wales government considers the project to be one of the State's most critical energy projects as it will supply clean energy to the Hunter, Sydney and Illawarra where 80% of NSW’s electricity is consumed.

The project involves the construction of a 110 km transmission line and towers to connect the existing transmission line at Bayswater to the existing transmission line in the Olney State Forest near Eraring in the Hunter region of New South Wales (NSW). In addition to the new transmission line and towers, two new switching stations will be constructed and existing infrastructure will be upgraded. The construction easement will be approximately 140m wide and the operational easement 70m wide.

The continued rollout of renewable energy projects is the only viable solution available to cut climate-harming carbon emissions from electricity production in the rapid time frames required. However, it must be done in a manner that avoids impacts on biodiversity.

The Biodiversity Council is concerned that this project undervalued biodiversity and did not undertake sufficient avoidance. Additionally, the impact on Littlejohn’s Tree Frog is significant and specific actions must be taken to avoid and minimise these impacts.

Our key concerns are:

1. Biodiversity values are not sufficiently avoided in choice of route corridor
2. Significant impact on Littlejohn’s Tree Frog

Download our submission for further details.