Press release – 21 December, 2015Brisbane, 22 December 2015: The Queensland government must stick to its election promise and hold off on dredging to expand the Abbot Point coal terminal, even in the face of federal approval for the activities to begin, Greenpeace Australia Pacific said today.Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt issued the approval today for the dredging in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to service the proposed Carmichael mine.
“This approval to dredge is not only irresponsible for the reef, it’s illogical and it’s unnecessary,” said Greenpeace reef campaigner, Shani Tager.
“It’s illogical to expand the port to make capacity for the proposed Carmichael mine, because it is a dead-end prospect. Adani hasn’t got the $16 billion, no one’s lending it to them, and coal prices are tanking. Even the International Energy Agency is questioning the project,” she said.
“Queensland Labor promised at the last election not to proceed with Abbot Point unless the Carmichael mine achieved financial closure. The mine has not found any backers, and the IEA has declared it is not likely to be operational by 2020, if ever.”
Ms Tager said revelations on Friday that Queensland government’s own environmental impact statement for the works failed to factor in an additional 100,000 tonnes of seafloor dredging showed how damaging it would be to proceed.
“If the Queensland government’s own EIS for the expansion failed to consider this extra dredging for a secret tugboat harbour, it means Mr Hunt might have failed to do his job and we will closely scrutinise the legality of this approval,” she said.
The Abbot Point area to be dredged is home to dolphins and dugongs, which rely on the seagrass there for food. It is also a habitat for endangered marine life like turtles and giant manta rays, and is in the path of migrating humpback whales.
“It is reckless and pointless to gouge away at a pristine habitat and endanger the Great Barrier Reef to build a port for a coal mine that nobody needs.
“Dredging 61 hectares of untouched marine habitat is irresponsible enough, but doing it for a dirty big coal mine that would only worsen greenhouse pollution that is already endangering the Reef is simply negligent,” she said.
The Great Barrier Reef has already lost 50 percent of its coral over the past 30 years and is being weakened by the effects of climate change [1]. Its fragility has been recognised by the United Nations World Heritage Committee, which has a watching brief on the Reef’s health.