The Council is concerned with State Government site clean-up guarantees that it feels will leave Roebourne out of pocket when it comes time for future plant decommissioning and site rehabilitation costs.

All future planning approvals for major industrial projects on the Burrup have now been suspended by the council, including the $700 million methanol project proposed by UK-based GTL Resources, until it receives enforceable financial guarantees from the State Government concerning the rehabilitation of the region.

The council claims that no concrete financial guarantees have been written into government rehabilitation plans for the $650 million Burrup Fertilisers project, now under construction, and that despite frequent attempts to raise the matter with Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan nothing has yet been done.

Potential costs for rehabilitation of the site could run into the millions of dollars.

However, MacTiernan told the West Australian that the Shire could not be held liable for any clean-up costs as environmental approvals required companies to provide detailed site rehabilitation plans, while new contaminated site legislation also provided extra protection.

Also LandCorp, as the ultimate landowner, would also be liable for any clean-up costs in a worst case scenario, she said.