THE controversial Byrrill Creek dam, proposed by Tweed Shire Council to sit south-west of Mt Warning, is “back on the agenda” following a NSW Government review of a policy which would have stopped it, according to Greens Upper House MP John Kaye.

Dr Kaye claims the review ordered by the State Government “will only serve to further embolden Tweed Mayor Kevin Skinner and his pro-dam clique”.

“After less than 100 days in office, the O'Farrell government has reopened a bitter debate over Tweed council's proposal for a dam on Byrrill Creek, between Murwillumbah and Kyogle,” Dr Kaye said.

“The 2010 Water Sharing Plan for the Tweed, developed and gazetted under the previous government, excludes the controversial $67 million, 36 billion litre project from permissible water supply works”.

Dr Kaye said if Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson, who ordered the re-evaluation, had been “looking for something to review, she need go no further than Tweed council's abysmal failure to look at water reuse and efficiency measures before pushing ahead with a damaging, expensive and entirely avoidable dam project”.

“Tweed council has failed in its duty to minimise water household bills by looking for the lowest cost options,” he said.

“Katrina Hodgkinson has now made herself complicit in their push for an expensive dam. The Water Sharing Plan which ruled out the $67 million dam was based on an extensive survey of the inundation which encountered 12 threatened species.

“Despite the strength of the case against the dam, Katrina Hodgkinson is questioning the scientific findings and reopening a divisive debate at the behest of the conservatives on council.

"If she really understood, she would have told the council to look at the cheaper and less destructive options.”