SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'Climate Criminality': Australia OKs Biggest Coal Mine
Environmental groups slam decision that will 'dump on' Great Barrier Reef, fuel climate crisis
Jul 28, 2014
In a decision criticized as "climate criminality," Australia's federal government announced Monday that it has given the OK to the country's biggest coal mine.
The announcement comes less than three months after the state of Queensland gave its approval to the project.
"With this decision," wrote Ben Pearson, head of programs for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, "the political system failed to protect the Great Barrier Reef, the global climate and our national interest."
"Off the back of repealing effective action on climate change," stated Australian Greens environment spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters, referring to the scrapping of the carbon tax, "the Abbott Government has ticked off on a proposal for Australia's biggest coal mine to cook the planet and turn our Reef into a super highway for coal ships."
Adani Mining expects its Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project in Queensland's Galilee Basin to produce up to 60 million tonnes of coal a year, most of which will be sent to India. A rail line will be created from the mine to a new coal port terminal, an expansion which means up to 3 million meters of dredging waste will be dumped in the area of the World Heritage-listed Reef.
UNESCO "noted with concern" (pdf) in April the prospect of additional dredging that would negatively impact the Reef and warned that the site could be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The approval for the Carmichael project came from Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt with "36 strict conditions"--conditions that did nothing to allay the environmental fears raised by critics.
"History will look back on the Abbott Government's decision today as an act of climate criminality."
--Senator Larissa WatersFelicity Wishart, Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, stated that the conditions would be "laughable, if they weren't so serious."
Wishart also accused the Queensland and federal government of "watering down environmental protections and fast-tracking approvals for new ports and LNG plants on the Great Barrier Reef."
"The Federal government has fast-tracked industrialization along the Reef because it is too close to the mining industry," she stated.
Pearson also admonished the close ties, saying in a statement, "The Federal Environment Minister has laid out the red carpet for a coal company with a shocking track record to dig up the outback, dump on the Great Barrier Reef and fuel climate change."
Amongst Greenpeace's list of why the project shouldn't go ahead is that
[t]he mine would steal preciouswater. The mine requires 12 gigaliters (12 billion liters) of water each year from local rivers and underground aquifers. That's enough drinking water for every Queenslander for three years. Even ten kilometers away, water tables are expected to drop by over one meter.
In addition to the dangers of dredging up the sea-bed, the list adds:
The burning of coal from Carmichael mine would produce four times the fossil fuel emissions of New Zealand. It is a catastrophe for the climate.
"History will look back on the Abbott Government's decision today as an act of climate criminality," Waters stated.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific created this infographic to highlight what the group sees as risks the Carmichael mine poses:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In a decision criticized as "climate criminality," Australia's federal government announced Monday that it has given the OK to the country's biggest coal mine.
The announcement comes less than three months after the state of Queensland gave its approval to the project.
"With this decision," wrote Ben Pearson, head of programs for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, "the political system failed to protect the Great Barrier Reef, the global climate and our national interest."
"Off the back of repealing effective action on climate change," stated Australian Greens environment spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters, referring to the scrapping of the carbon tax, "the Abbott Government has ticked off on a proposal for Australia's biggest coal mine to cook the planet and turn our Reef into a super highway for coal ships."
Adani Mining expects its Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project in Queensland's Galilee Basin to produce up to 60 million tonnes of coal a year, most of which will be sent to India. A rail line will be created from the mine to a new coal port terminal, an expansion which means up to 3 million meters of dredging waste will be dumped in the area of the World Heritage-listed Reef.
UNESCO "noted with concern" (pdf) in April the prospect of additional dredging that would negatively impact the Reef and warned that the site could be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The approval for the Carmichael project came from Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt with "36 strict conditions"--conditions that did nothing to allay the environmental fears raised by critics.
"History will look back on the Abbott Government's decision today as an act of climate criminality."
--Senator Larissa WatersFelicity Wishart, Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, stated that the conditions would be "laughable, if they weren't so serious."
Wishart also accused the Queensland and federal government of "watering down environmental protections and fast-tracking approvals for new ports and LNG plants on the Great Barrier Reef."
"The Federal government has fast-tracked industrialization along the Reef because it is too close to the mining industry," she stated.
Pearson also admonished the close ties, saying in a statement, "The Federal Environment Minister has laid out the red carpet for a coal company with a shocking track record to dig up the outback, dump on the Great Barrier Reef and fuel climate change."
Amongst Greenpeace's list of why the project shouldn't go ahead is that
[t]he mine would steal preciouswater. The mine requires 12 gigaliters (12 billion liters) of water each year from local rivers and underground aquifers. That's enough drinking water for every Queenslander for three years. Even ten kilometers away, water tables are expected to drop by over one meter.
In addition to the dangers of dredging up the sea-bed, the list adds:
The burning of coal from Carmichael mine would produce four times the fossil fuel emissions of New Zealand. It is a catastrophe for the climate.
"History will look back on the Abbott Government's decision today as an act of climate criminality," Waters stated.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific created this infographic to highlight what the group sees as risks the Carmichael mine poses:
In a decision criticized as "climate criminality," Australia's federal government announced Monday that it has given the OK to the country's biggest coal mine.
The announcement comes less than three months after the state of Queensland gave its approval to the project.
"With this decision," wrote Ben Pearson, head of programs for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, "the political system failed to protect the Great Barrier Reef, the global climate and our national interest."
"Off the back of repealing effective action on climate change," stated Australian Greens environment spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters, referring to the scrapping of the carbon tax, "the Abbott Government has ticked off on a proposal for Australia's biggest coal mine to cook the planet and turn our Reef into a super highway for coal ships."
Adani Mining expects its Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project in Queensland's Galilee Basin to produce up to 60 million tonnes of coal a year, most of which will be sent to India. A rail line will be created from the mine to a new coal port terminal, an expansion which means up to 3 million meters of dredging waste will be dumped in the area of the World Heritage-listed Reef.
UNESCO "noted with concern" (pdf) in April the prospect of additional dredging that would negatively impact the Reef and warned that the site could be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The approval for the Carmichael project came from Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt with "36 strict conditions"--conditions that did nothing to allay the environmental fears raised by critics.
"History will look back on the Abbott Government's decision today as an act of climate criminality."
--Senator Larissa WatersFelicity Wishart, Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, stated that the conditions would be "laughable, if they weren't so serious."
Wishart also accused the Queensland and federal government of "watering down environmental protections and fast-tracking approvals for new ports and LNG plants on the Great Barrier Reef."
"The Federal government has fast-tracked industrialization along the Reef because it is too close to the mining industry," she stated.
Pearson also admonished the close ties, saying in a statement, "The Federal Environment Minister has laid out the red carpet for a coal company with a shocking track record to dig up the outback, dump on the Great Barrier Reef and fuel climate change."
Amongst Greenpeace's list of why the project shouldn't go ahead is that
[t]he mine would steal preciouswater. The mine requires 12 gigaliters (12 billion liters) of water each year from local rivers and underground aquifers. That's enough drinking water for every Queenslander for three years. Even ten kilometers away, water tables are expected to drop by over one meter.
In addition to the dangers of dredging up the sea-bed, the list adds:
The burning of coal from Carmichael mine would produce four times the fossil fuel emissions of New Zealand. It is a catastrophe for the climate.
"History will look back on the Abbott Government's decision today as an act of climate criminality," Waters stated.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific created this infographic to highlight what the group sees as risks the Carmichael mine poses:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.