The department has released the draft Terms of Reference, which once finalised will provide the framework against which the project will be assessed. This follows the government’s declaration in December that the power station was a significant project and would require an Environment Impact Statement (EIS), said Origin Energy general manager public & government affairs, Tony Wood.

“It is planned to construct the power station in two 500 MW stages, with the initial 500 MW stage likely to come on line during 2008,” Wood said.

“It is anticipated that around 30 full time positions could be created by the project, as well as between 200 to 400 people during the construction phase.”

The power station, if it proceeds, would be supplied with natural gas from central Queensland’s large coal-bed methane reserves. Origin Energy is developing some of these fields.