Correspondence From 7 March To 29 April 2026 Regarding Valhalla Gas Exploration Proposal.

Written by Claude Haiku 4.5 from the extracted text on 10 Jul 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

Correspondence regarding the Valhalla gas exploration proposal (EPBC referral 2024/10006) shows DCCEEW conducting an assessment and preparing a Preliminary Decision (PD). Discussion points from late April 2026 indicate negotiations over mitigation conditions, particularly measures for bilby and skink protection, and monitoring of the Poole aquifer through groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) biological assessment. Department staff recommended reworking mitigation measures to meet SMART criteria outlined in EPBC Act outcomes-based conditions guidance before publishing the decision. The correspondence shows coordination between DCCEEW, state agencies (OWS), and the proponent (Black Mountain Energy) on staging of well sites, mitigation detail levels, and state consultation regarding shared monitoring approaches.