Adani’s $16.5-bn Australia coal mine project in fresh legal row

Indian mining giant Adani’s $16.5 billion controversy-hit coal mine project in Australia on Monday faced a fresh legal challenge from an environmental group which sought cancellation of a new government approval, saying it would harm the fragile Great Barrier Reef and add to climate change.

The mega project located in Queensland’s Galilee Basin was last month granted the new approval by Environment Minister Greg Hunt. The mine, which would be the biggest in Australia, was approved subject to 36 strict conditions after a court action sidelined the project earlier this year because of its impact on the ornamental snake and yakka skink, a vulnerable species that hides under rocks. 

The Australian Conservation Foundation said Environment Minister Hunt failed to consider whether the impact of climate pollution, resulting from burning the mine’s coal, would be inconsistent with Australia’s international obligations to protect the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.

“The Great Barrier Reef is loved by Australians and overseas visitors, but it will soon be gone if we allow climate change to keep accelerating,” ACF President Geoff Cousins said. “Coral reef scientists are telling us in just a few decades warmer waters could bleach the Reef beyond recognition. This would be a tragedy for Australia and the world,” he added. “The minister has acknowledged climate change is affecting the Great Barrier Reef, yet the approval of the Carmichael mine will create more pollution, make global warming worse and irreversibly damage the Reef,” Cousins said.

He said ACF believes the federal government’s re-approval of a coal mine that would produce more climate pollution than New Zealand does annually is reckless and irresponsible. “Taking legitimate legal action in the public interest is central to keeping governments accountable in a democracy,” Cousins said. Commenting on the development, the Adani company said, “Today’s announcement by the ACF is the latest in a litany of attempts by politically-motivated activists seeking to endlessly delay new, job creating projects in Queensland.”  “Adani has consistently said that what is required for major job creating resource projects to proceed in this state and in Australia more broadly is regulatory and approvals certainty,” it noted. “It is one thing for a project’s approval to be challenged. It is quite another to wait for previous challenges to fail, then launch new ones on different grounds over, and over again, seeking endless delay, and endlessly abusing process,” it said in a statement.

Adani stressed that the company was confident in the soundness of Hunt’s approval of the mine under the Act. It said while Hunt announced that the mine had been re-approved, some activist groups went so far as to indicate they would launch an appeal despite not being sure of the grounds on which to do so. “These constant delay tactics, seeking to stall progress for up to two years, are consistent with the activist blueprint for politically-motivated opposition to Australia s strictly regulated coal industry - Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom,” it said. Meanwhile, the latest move by ACF was lauded by several green groups including Greenpeace Australia Pacific who described the legal challenge as a ‘crucial’ one. “The Carmichael coal mine would be an absolute disaster for the Great Barrier Reef, our climate and the local environment if it proceeds,” Shani Tager of Greenpeace Australia Pacific Reef Campaigner said.

Mackay Conservation Group also welcomed the move and the Group’s acting coordinator, Peter McCallum, said, “we welcome the intervention of Australia’s pre-eminent environmental organisation in this legal process.” “Ultimately this is a battle between overseas resource companies who wish to make vast profits from mining and those who wish to see the Great Barrier Reef protected for the entire community,” he said.

Last month, Hunt gave approval to Adani for the mine and rail project after the federal court had set aside the original approval because of a bureaucratic error over the two species - Yakka Skink and Ornamental Snake. The federal court in August had revoked the original approval due to a bureaucratic bungle over vulnerable species. The Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Infrastructure project is located approximately 300 kilometres inland in remote central Queensland.