Hi INGA
Right now Indian mining giant Adani is itching to build one the world’s largest coal mines in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
But the Carmichael Coal Mine is being held up by a court case that questions whether Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt did his homework on the impacts of the mine.
From its massive contribution to global warming right down to the tiny finch it will drive towards extinction, the impact will be colossal.
The Galilee Basin breathes life into eastern Australia. It straddles the Great Dividing Range with its water catchments feeding inland to Lake Eyre and its deep springs flowing all the way out to the Great Barrier Reef.
In the Basin’s grassy, open woodlands, a 400-strong flock of the endangered Southern Black-Throated Finch holds tight to one of its last remaining strongholds.
Etched in its rocks and deep in its veins, is the ancient living culture of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners.
With this knowledge, to allow a giant coal mine in the Basin in the age of clean energy is nothing short of wilful neglect.
Here are 6 reasons the minister must revoke approval of the Carmichael Coal Mine:
1. The mine is estimated to contribute 130 million tonnes of carbon pollution each year to global warming.
2. It will require a whopping 12 billion litres of water every year, could dry up or contaminate ancient springs, and drain sections of the Basin.
3. It poses a huge threat to the Great Barrier Reef with its contribution to global warming, potential to pollute ecosystems that support the Reef and from the coal ships that will pass through the Reef’s waters.
4. It will destroy 10,000 hectares of endangered Southern Black-Throated Finch habitat, plans to offset the damage are woefully inadequate, and it could drive the species to extinction.
5. It does not have the consent of Traditional Owners, the Wangan and Jagalingou people.
6. The mine’s proponent Adani has a terrible track record in India of flouting regulations and destroying environments.
Under national environmental law any of these factors alone should have stopped the approval of the Carmichael Coal Mine. Combined, the approval of the mine is unfathomable.
It’s clear our system is broken. It’s broken when our Federal Environment Minister takes the word of a big polluting company with a terrible track record as truth. It’s broken when the government does not consult the community. And it’s broken when a vital life source like the Galilee can be destroyed with the signature of a single minister.
We’ve written to the minister to ask him to consider all the facts and revoke his approval of the Carmichael Coal Mine. We’re meeting with Australian banks to make sure they think long and hard before investing in the mine. And we’re bringing people together to amplify our voices.
Let’s keep coal out of the Galilee.
Thank you,
Paul
Paul Sinclair
Director of campaigns
Australian Conservation Foundation