The company behind a proposed floating gas terminal in Newcastle says the Victorian government's rejection last week of a similar gas dock on the Mornington Peninsula will not affect its plans.
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Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne ruled last week that AGL's proposed liquefied natural gas import terminal at Crib Point would have "unacceptable impacts" on Western Port Bay.
The Crib Point and Newcastle proposals are both close to habitats listed on the international Ramsar register of significant wetlands.
South Korean firm EPIK plans to build its terminal in the Hunter River's South Channel, between the Kooragang Island coal loaders and the Tourle Street bridge and about three kilometres downriver from Hunter Wetlands National Park.
The company said on Monday that it planned to lodge an environmental impact statement in the second half of this year and make a final investment decision in early 2022.
EPIK's executive director of corporate strategy, James Markham-Hill, said the company was confident it could "deliver an environmentally responsible and economically beneficial project".
"We do not expect the Victorian government's recent decision to have any negative impact on our proposed facility in Newcastle," he said.
"As is appropriate, all proposals are reviewed on the specifics of the individual project and the location in which they are sited."
Mr Markham-Hill said the $589 million Newcastle GasDock project would meet or exceed regulatory and environmental requirements.
Mr Wynne's decision referred to cold, chlorinated seawater discharges from the regasification process posing an environmental risk in Western Port.
EPIK said in 2019 that its proposed gas terminal was similar in design to the now-rejected Victorian floating storage and regasification vessel.
The company announced in October that it planned to add LNG bunkering to the dock to supply gas as a fuel to the commercial shipping and cruise ship industries.
Mr Markham-Hill said the Newcastle terminal would have a lower environmental impact than domestic gas supply alternatives "both in terms of its limited project footprint and its minimal operational impacts".
The government last year declared the Newcastle gas terminal critical state infrastructure, which gives it high planning priority.
The terminal will take about a year to build and could be operating by 2023 if it gains planning approval and the company can secure the contracts it needs to make the project viable.
The Australian Industrial Energy consortium won NSW government approval for a floating liquefied natural gas import terminal in Port Kembla two years ago.