Gas approvals flawed, claims WWF

Local businesses are taking advantage of the newly emerging CSG to LNG industry by going through the tendering process.

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WORLD Wildlife Fund has criticised the approval process for major projects in Queensland.

WWF policy manager freshwater Sean Hoobin said the organisation was worried that projects such as the LNG projects on Curtis Island were assessed on an individual basis, rather than collectively.

He said the process of Environmental Impact Statements for individual projects was flawed, because the proponent paid a consultant to assess their project.

A spokesman for the Co-ordinator General said the EIS process was rigorous and was not an automatic precursor to approval.

"It is a comprehensive, whole-of-government assessment that delivers a streamlined set of conditions for project approvals," he said.

He said an EIS typically took two to three years to produce as was the case of the three LNG projects on Curtis Island.