REEF: Is Abbot Point on the brink of collapse? Sam R – GetUp

Hey NEVILLE,

Mining giant Adani’s plan to build the massive Abbot Point coal terminal on the Reef, dredge millions of tonnes of seabed in Reef waters and build Australia’s largest ever coal mine is starting to look shaky. Really shaky.

Investors are walking away, Adani’s lies are beginning to crumble and they’ve just taken a hammering in court.

The events of the last few days have been enormous. Here’s everything you need to know:

Adani halted all construction work:
Last Friday, Adani told its contractors to immediately stop all preliminary work on the project. It looked for a fleeting moment like they might be getting ready to abandon the port and mine all together. Instead, it now appears to be a high stakes, desperate move to pressure the Queensland Government into fast-tracking approvals and providing the mining company with favourable conditions.¹

UNESCO put the Reef on its watch list:
Last night UNESCO narrowly avoided listing the Reef as ‘in-danger’ but the diagnosis wasn’t pretty. The Reef is suffering, only getting worse and UNESCO has put our Government on a short-leash when it comes to protecting our precious icon.²

Despite the Federal Government spending huge sums of money to convince us the Reef is in great health, we know the reality is much bleaker. We need to do so much more to protect it from climate change, declining water quality and coastal development. Not building a giant coal port on the Reef coast would be a great start.

Adani Treasury scandal:
Explosive documents exposed under Freedom of Information show that former Premier Campbell Newman and former Planning Minister Jeff Seeney had ignored advice from its own Treasury who repeatedly warned them Adani’s project was unbankable.³

Incredibly, instead of heeding the advice, Minister Seeney’s department uninvited Treasury from a meeting with Adani before signing a deal to give the mining company $450 million.³

Even for the previous Newman Government and Adani, this is a new low.

But is Queensland Labor Adani’s new saviour?
Unbelievably, it seems that a Minister from the new Labor Government — elected on a mandate of protecting the Reef and stamping out murky-mining deals — looks to be Adani’s saviour.

Mines Minister Anthony Lynham — even after learning the project is an economic disaster — has come out in support of the monstrous port and mine.

It just doesn’t make sense. It will hurt the Reef. It will devastate our climate. The mine may never be built, and even if it is, analysts say it’s unlikely to ever turn a profit.

Eleven major investment banks have vowed not to fund the project. Adani face numerous legal challenges, including ones funded by GetUp members. India and China don’t want our expensive imported coal.^4,5 Adani still don’t have State or Federal approvals for the mine and they still don’t have an approved plan for dredging millions of tonnes of World Heritage Area seabed.

But, so long as Mines Minister Anthony Lynham continues to pledge his support, Adani’s mission to build Abbot Point will stay alive.

It’s never been more important to place pressure on the Queensland Government than it is right now. If we can convince Minister Lynham this project is too toxic to touch we could be on the verge of a truly historic victory.

Click here to tweet Minister Lynham
Click here to contact Minister Lynham on Facebook

If you don’t have Facebook or Twitter, you can help by forwarding this email to your friends and family and explain why stopping Abbot Point and protecting the Reef means so much to you.

Right now we’re closer to saving the Great Barrier Reef from Abbot Point and the Carmichael mine than we’ve ever been before. Let’s make it happen.

Thank you for everything.

Sam R and Adam, for the GetUp team

References:
[1] Adani halts work on Australia’s largest mine amid political dispute over approvals. Sydney Morning Herald. June 24, 2015.
[2] Great Barrier Reef: World Heritage Committee decides against declaring reef as ‘in danger’. ABC Online. July 2, 2015.
[3] Adani Mining: Senior Queensland bureaucrats frozen out of government’s Galilee Basin deal. ABC Online. July 1, 2015
[4] The End of Coal? ABC 4 Corners, June 16, 2015.
[5] China to cut coal consumption. Australian Mining, March 9 2015.