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Plans have been revived for a potential $1.5 billion gas-fired power plant on the New South Wales southern tablelands amid a national debate about energy security.
Energy company AGL was given approval in 2012 to build the Dalton Power Station, west of Goulburn, but suspended the project due to market conditions.
The approval is set to expire in July, and AGL now wants a two-year extension.
The company said the modification would enable it to review the proposed power station in light of new technologies and existing market conditions.
The move comes amid a national debate about ways to boost energy security in Australia.
"The energy landscape has changed, and ensuring secure, reliable and affordable energy supply for the state is a priority," an AGL spokesman said in a statement.
"The proposed Dalton Power Station provides an option to help New South Wales meet peak demand and manage its energy security."
The company said the plant had been designed as a peaking plant, so it could add additional generation capacity to the grid as more supply was needed.
AGL said the power station would also be a "very effective" way of complementing intermittent renewable energy sources.
Community concerned about noise, air quality
The approval in 2012 sparked outrage among local community members, who were concerned about the plant's potential noise and air emissions.
A community meeting was held in nearby Gunning on Thursday night to discuss the revived plans.
Alister Waine, who was the president of the now-disbanded Upper Lachlan Environment Association, said residents felt "ambushed" by the plans being back on the table.
"We really want to make it clear that we are here, and that we just don't want to be considered collateral damage in this greater [energy security] debate," Mr Waine said.
"We struggled to actually hear about it from AGL. The consultation has been completely lacking.
"We haven't heard anything from AGL since they put a suspension on their proposal in 2012.
"We're all a bit shell-shocked and just trying to get together and inform the community, because a lot of members of the community hadn't actually heard until yesterday about it, seven days into the process."
High level of interest sparks extension on feedback period
The Department of Planning and Environment has extended the public feedback period by a fortnight after residents argued they would need more time to respond.
The department's director of resource assessments Mike Young urged everyone interested in the project to make a submission.
"We've made a decision that we're going to extend the exhibition period to about four weeks, which means people have until April 13, just before Easter, to make a formal submission on the application," he said.
"If people have any kind of concerns about the current approval, or the fact that they've moved into the area and they're concerned that they might be living in proximity to the proposed power station, I'd urge people to put that in their submission.
"That can allow the department to consider those issues and whether they can be managed."
An AGL spokesman said an extension of the approval would provide an opportunity to consult with the community, landholders and other stakeholders.
It said it would also establish a Community Consultative Committee that would enable community members to engage in the process while it assessed the need for reviving the plan.
Topics: oil-and-gas, environmental-impact, gunning-2581, crookwell-2583
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