Campaigns For Protecting Great Barrier Reef Delay Approval For A Billion Dollar Coal Project

The work on the Carmichael Coal Mine worth AU$10 Billion has come to a halt owing to the delay in Government’s approval for the project, the group that is owned by Adani Mining revealed it in a latest statement. The environmentalists who claimed that the project could be detrimental to the Great Barrier Reef, is one of the major reasons for the Government to hold back its approval.

The coal mine located in the Galilee Basin of Queensland is under the process of development and its output would be exported mostly to India for providing electricity to a massive population in the region. The environmentalists on the other hand are trying to stop the project on the grounds that it would damage parts of the Great Barrier Reef and also contribute to global warming.

The coal mining project in the Galilee Basin, sprawling over 247,000 square kilometres could become the largest coal mining project in Australia besides producing a large number of jobs. According to the Business Standard, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Korea's POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd., which is also being pushed as a major investor in the final project have been asked last week to stop the work on the project. Adani Mining informed the POSCO Ltd. that the pending tasks would be resumed by October this year.

"The preliminary works contracts were previously sustained due to the level of investment Adani had maintained for more than 12 months in anticipation of a range of government decisions and approvals timeframes," Adani Mining told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Sydney Morning Herald reported that environmental organisation Greenpeace contacted Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday, requesting to cancel the license for the mining project. "This is yet another sign of a doomed project," said Nikola Casule, a Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner.

"The risk for potential investors in the Carmichael mine is getting worse and worse. The burning of coal from Carmichael would produce 121 million tonnes of deadly carbon dioxide emissions every year at maximum production. It would be a catastrophe for the climate and for the Great Barrier Reef."

Contact the writer on debleenasarkar26@gmail.com