AN endangered frog species has been found near the site of the proposed 330MW solar facility at Meadow Creek and will be a hot topic of discussion in Canberra this week.
Proponents of the Meadow Creek Solar Farm have conducted an environmental assessment of the proposed site and have submitted an Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act referral to the government, which highlighted a presence of the endangered Sloane's froglet (Crinia sloanei) in the area.
Nearby landholders to the proposed Meadow Creek Solar Farm will join Independent Indi MP Helen Haines when they meet with the environment department in Canberra this week to discuss their concerns in reference to the EPBC Act.
Proponents of the Meadow Creek Solar Farm officially lodged a planning application with the State Government several weeks ago for what is believed to be a $750m development, which could host approximately 330MW of solar power - supplying over 100,000 regional homes with power - on the 566 hectare site.
Local farmer and landholder, David Minifie, said while the application is yet to go out to the public, developers have said they have found Sloane's froglet and that has triggered an application into the EPBC Act and it is going through a process but it's not available publicly yet.
"When the public notice period opens, submitters will be able to give feedback to the planning permit application the government has had since August 17," he said.
"Concerns we have are that the proponents might have done their studies that alerted them of the Sloane's froglet prior to heavy rainfalls in 2022 and 2023.
"They have only told us that the froglet was found on one side of Sheep Station Creek, but the timeframe of their study will determine if it was prior to heavier rainfall, the latter which would be more conducive to higher frog populations.
"There are also species that depend on large, old remnant trees which have high value hollow-bearing trees for birdlife and arboreal mammals."
These include possums and gliders, microbats and many reptiles such as goannas, pythons, dragons, geckos and skinks.
Mr Minifie said they are concerned about how many of these trees will be cleared.
"Even when they're taking out younger trees, we're losing 50 years of recruitment, and you have to wait another 100-200 years for the trees to be suitable for certain nesting species," he said.
"There might also be other species in the area but we haven't seen the assessment and we don't have access to the site.
"The proponents have been very poor in communicating much to the public, with only tiny pieces of information given to individuals.
"It's difficult to formulate much when you don't have anything to go by."
Meadow Creek Agricultural Community Action Group members John and Jess Conroy will accompany Dr Haines in Canberra to seek more information on the environmental front.
When the public consultation period does eventually open, Mr Conroy highlighted that the 14-day window to comment was highly restrictive.
"This is heavily weighted in the proponent's favour given that the final application will have had professionals preparing it for up to three years," he said.
"It makes it almost impossible to do a counter study against the so-called independent assessments.
"Local opinion and knowledge will have no weight to objecting to any part of the application that an objector believes is untrue or misleading."
Mr Conroy said the community is greatly concerned their right to appeal any decision has been eroded after the tribunal process was removed by the State Government.
"The number of solar panels have increased to 592,752 up from 475,000, and the lithium-ion battery capacity has increased from 250MW to 1GWh," he said.
The Victorian Government did not respond to a request for information about the planning process timeline by the time of publication.