Biodiversity.
Arrow Energy holds the firm view that the conservation of biological diversity provides significant cultural, economic, educational, environmental, scientific and social benefits for the communities in which the company operates.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of all life forms – the different plants, animals, micro-organisms, the genes they contain, and the ecosystems and habitats of which they form a part.
Arrow has actively incorporated biodiversity conservation principles into operations and its agreements with staff, contractors, other service providers. Embedded in this process is a system of continuous improvement whereby new ideas and concepts can be introduced.
Some notable areas where Arrow Energy has adopted and implemented biodiversity principles (incorporating International and National strategies) include:
- Adopting ecosystem database searches to ensure that Arrow’s infrastructure doesn’t impact on classified regions of vegetation and animal habitat conservation.
- Completion of fauna and flora base-lining at all of Arrow’s sites to ensure that infrastructure doesn’t cause an impact on protected areas during construction and operation.
- Actively promoting inter-generational training in environment and biodiversity principles by funding training and monitoring programs at local high schools.
- Arrow’s conservation program to reduce greenhouse gases and reduce climate change impacts is implicit in its operations. By producing electricity from a clean energy source it has a significant impact on climate change by halving the greenhouse gas emissions that would be produced from burning coal to achieve the same unit of energy production.
- Funding catchment wide water management programs that measure the environmental status quo of the regions surface water systems in order to make informed decisions about the management of surface water in the catchment.
- Initiating R & D into ways of managing and utilising coal seam gas water. Arrow has developed nine new ways of providing beneficial uses of what was once thought to be a waste product that is coal seam gas water. By doing so every drop that is recycled or reused conserves the hydrological water resource stored beneath the surface. At present we are recycling 4 ML per day to cattle feedlots and up to a further 5.6ML per day to a local desalination plant being planned for the Dalby region.
- Arrow has initiated an Invasive Pest Species Management system whereby all vehicles are risk assessed as to their potential to convey weeds and pests from one area to another. This process may result in the vehicle being cleaned prior to moving to a new district. To facilitate the rapid action on this issue Arrow is building a vehicle wash-down station at its Stratheden Gas Field.
- Rehabilitation of disturbed areas is a priority of Arrow Energy’s erosion control process and the requirement to return disturbed land to its original land use. This process is ongoing and incorporates surface erosion control techniques. Arrow has also lodged with the Government considerable financial guarantees towards rehabilitating its entire operations.
