Anger at coal port approval near Great Barrier Reef

Outrage from conservationists and the Australian Greens Party has greeted the decision of Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government to approve the creation of one of the world’s largest coal ports near the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Late yesterday, Environment Minister Greg Hunt gave the go-ahead to the Abbot Point coal terminal expansion at Bowen in north Queensland.

Mr Hunt at the same time approved Arrow Energy’s Liquefied Natural Gas project on Curtis Island in central Queensland, and a transmission pipeline to the island.

In doing so he also advised the conservative Liberal National Party (LNP) Queensland government of new plans designed to protect the long-term future of the Great Barrier Reef.

The reef is currently being considered by the United Nations cultural arm UNESCO, which administers the World Heritage listings as World Heritage in danger and UNESCO has called for the Australian and Queensland governments to reconsider development plans for the coast.

The decision to expand Abbot Point port was “damaging and short-sighted,” reef campaigners said today.

Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) Great Barrier Reef Campaign Director, Felicity Wishart, said the go ahead for dredging and dumping flies in the face of the Coalition’s claims during the election campaign that it had the Reef’s best interests at heart.

WWF Campaign Director Richard Leck said a disposal site had not yet been finalised.

“How can the Minister approve the dumping when we don’t even know where this dredge spoil is going,” Mr Leck said.

“A recent government report found that plumes of dredge material spread even further than first thought. This means an even bigger impact on corals, water visibility and sensitive Reef species

“Scientists are telling us pollution is killing the Reef, that it needs extra care, but this decision treats the Reef like a dump, it’s totally at odds with community expectations.

“The World Heritage Committee could list the Great Barrier Reef as ‘World Heritage in Danger’ if we don’t put the brakes on industrial development,” he said.

Millions of cubic metres of spoil must be dredged and dumped near the reef for the coal port to be constructed.

ABC News reports Mr Hunt said he was imposing strict environmental conditions on the project.

“It is my intention that the first priority for all future capital dredging projects within the central and north Queensland coastal zone will be for shoreline, near-to-shore or land reclamation disposal,” he said.

“This follows my recent agreement with the Gladstone Ports Authority that they will not dispose of up to 12 million cubic metres of spoil within the marine park, but will instead use this material for land infill.

“For Abbot Point, perhaps the most important condition is that any dredging would be limited to 1.3 million cubic metres of sediment a year.

“That is down from a 38 million cubic metre proposal, so a radical decrease in what was going to be the case.”

Mr Hunt said big improvements to water quality were also required as a condition of the projects.

“There’s a 150 per cent net benefit requirement for water quality. It means that we’ll make permanent improvement to the Burdekin and the Don rivers, which will mean a permanent net benefit to the quality of water in the reef,” he said.

The approval of the expansion, which involves several major new terminals, has angered the Australia Greens.

Queensland Senator Larissa Waters told ABC News the approvals showed criminal disregard for the Barrier Reef.

“The Liberal-National government has sacrificed the climate and the Great Barrier Reef for overseas mining companies with its approval today of the world’s largest coal port and another CSG plant in our Great Barrier Reef,” she said.

“The Prime Minister (Tony Abbott) is ignoring the World Heritage committee’s warnings about the mass industrialisation of the reef, and is inviting a World Heritage ‘in danger’ listing.

“The coal to be mined from the Galilee Basin and exported through Abbot Point each year which will create more CO2 emissions a year than produced by both Denmark and Portugal combined.”

However, Mr Hunt denied his approval of the contentious projects would pose any threat to the reef’s World Heritage status.

“We have had the Queensland Ports Strategy minimise quite dramatically the footprint of the ports, which was considered as a fundamental issue for UNESCO,” he said.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche praised Mr Hunt for using the weight of scientific evidence to put Queenslanders ahead of “increasingly hysterical environmental activists”.

“The trading ports working alongside the Great Barrier Reef are responsible for the export of commodities worth $40 billion a year to the Australian economy,” he said.

Queensland’s Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney also welcomed Mr Hunt’s decision.

“It’s produced the toughest environmental conditions in Australia’s history, but that is right and proper given that we are dealing with Australia’s greatest asset, the Great Barrier Reef.”