cougar using bullying tactics - fraser, page-2

Cougar chairman Malcolm McAully said the plant's closure was unreasonable and extreme.

'At no time did Cougar Energy cause harm to the environment and at no time did we endanger drinking water for either human or livestock consumption,' he told reporters in Brisbane.

He said benzene was found in two of 530 samples taken and those were isolated and transitory readings.

'The facts show that the government and DERM (Department of Environment and Resource Management) officials acted unreasonably in relying on what was known at the time to be a falsely reported test result,' he said.

Mr McAully said Cougar would also argue that DERM had incorrectly applied quality guidelines for the contamination of drinking water, instead of non-potable water guidelines as set out in their permit.

The bores at the Kingaroy plant were not accessible for drinking, and should have therefore been bound by a much higher contamination threshold level - 950 parts per billion (ppb) - instead of 1 ppb for drinking water.

He said the bureaucrats were being targeted because they were the ones wielding power.

'It is the actions of the Bligh government, these office holders and their unreasonable decisions that have inflicted a significant loss on the company,' Mr McAully said.

The company is seeking the compensation for redundancies paid to staff, capital that had been invested and the closing of Cougar's Brisbane office.

Mr McAully said the shutdown was 'politically motivated' and the case highlighted concern over sovereign risk in Queensland.

'We believe that the people in positions of authority have succumbed to misinformation and pressures from local farmers and politicians,' he said.

Cougar tried to resolve the forced closure for 15 months in good faith, but the department had continued to refuse it, despite a wealth of scientific evidence that its operations posed no threat to the environment, Mr McAully said.

'All of our proposals have been rejected. The company is left with no option but to seek court intervention,' he said.




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Enough said. No leg to stand on.