Press release – 9 December, 2014Brisbane, 10 December 2014: Greenpeace is shocked that Environment Minister Greg Hunt is fast-tracking destructive coal port plans which endanger the Great Barrier Reef. Minister Hunt has allowed just ten days for public comment on proposals to dredge millions of tonnes of seafloor in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and dump it on nearby sensitive wetlands.“Australians get longer to pay their parking tickets than they’re getting to comment on the fate of our Reef,” said Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter.
“Gladstone showed us the terrible damage that industrialisation can cause to the Reef coast. Given such high stakes, it is essential the process is not hurried or hidden from ordinary Australians.”
“Minister Hunt is clearly rushing this process but the question is why: who is pressuring Mr Hunt to rush this through?”
Mr Ritter has written to Minister Hunt urging the Minister to give these projects the highest level of scrutiny. “Given that the Queensland government is clearly desperate to start ripping up the seabed, Minister Hunt must not bow to pressure and must take his responsibilities as guardian of our Great Barrier Reef seriously.”
“Despite all of the concerns by UNESCO, scientists and the millions of Australians who love the Reef, it is absolutely outrageous that the environmental impacts of dredging and dumping will not be fully assessed by the Minister for the Environment,” Mr Ritter said.
“Ten days for public comment is entirely inadequate – especially in the festive season.”
“If Minister Hunt approves the coal port expansion on this current timeline, bulldozing and dredging could begin soon after Christmas.”
Greenpeace’s submission to Environment Minister Greg Hunt on the revised dumping and dredging plans at Abbot Point is available
here.
Dredging proposal open for comment
here
Wetland dumping proposal open for comment
here
For interviews or more information, contact: Elsa Evers, 0438 204 041
Photographs of the Caley Valley wetlands and Abbot Point available at:
http://www.greenpeacemedia.org/main.php?g2_itemId=19146
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