A Hong Kong-based company wants to spend about $100 million so it can pipe gas from the Cooper Basin to a north Queensland port for export to Asian markets.
The plan comes on top of a major expansion of the Abbot Point port facilities, which has already proved highly controversial with environmentalists.
Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government late last year approved the port expansion plans that would involve dumping three million cubic metres of dredge spoil inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
The new proposal calls for the building a 1000 kilometre pipeline from the basin to a liquefied natural gas plant at Abbot Point near Bowen.
From there about two million tonnes of gas a year would be exported to Asia.
ABC News reports Energy World Corporation admits the construction of the $100 million project could affect the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.
It wants to build a loading facility but has not decided if that will extend offshore into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage listed area.
The project could involve the dredging of about 500,000 cubic metres of sediment to be dumped on the mainland, which creates a risk of erosion run-off into the Great Barrier Marine Park.
The company aims to start work by mid-2017.
Plans for the project have been lodged with the Federal Environment Department.
ABC News reports the proposal is open for public comment until April 24.
In December the federal government approved the expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal sparking outrage from conservationists and the Australian Greens Party.
A dredging project at the port is currently the subject of a legal challenge in the Federal Court in Brisbane.
“This is out of the blue,” Australian Marine Conservation Society campaign director Felicity Wishart said.
“The dredging itself is very damaging to the marine environment,” she said, adding that land disposal may impact wetlands.
