Kleinfelder provided ecological services to facilitate the development of the Newcastle Gas Storage Facility, which involved building 5.5 kilometres of pipeline, a 30,000-ton storage tank, a processing plant, and associated infrastructure.

Protecting Threatened Ecological Communities

When baseline flora and fauna surveys indicated that the site supported three nationally listed threatened species—Koala, New Holland Mouse, and Earp’s Gum—in addition to two NSW-listed Threatened Ecological Communities (TEC), Kleinfelder needed to develop an offset strategy to ensure protection and conservation of these species in nearby regions. Kleinfelder’s ecological experts needed to find a set of solutions that would accommodate species that needed relocating as well as species whose presence needed to be reestablished in other areas.

Prioritising Specific Steps To Preservation

After mapping communities to identify ecological constraints, the Kleinfelder team first suggested modifications to the development footprint to avoid impacts on Earp’s Gum and New Holland Mouse habitat, then created an offsets package for species that would be impacted—including reserving land and installing artificial nest boxes and a fauna crossing. The team also structured development and implementation strategies that mitigated impacts during construction and operations, such as soft-fell tree clearing, fauna relocation, and topsoil retention and rehabilitation.

Project Results

By providing a robust ecological offset strategy, Kleinfelder enabled its client to move into approval stages without risk of delay or fines. Government regulators accepted Kleinfelder’s offset strategy and granted the client full development approval.

Project Details

Location:
Tomago, New South Wales

Owner:
AGL