Saturday 26 November 2016

Environmental challenge to Carmichael coalmine dismissed by supreme court

Extract from The Guardian

Queensland Resources Council chief executive welcomes decision and tells activists to get out of Adani’s way

Adani protest
People protest in Brisbane earlier this year against the mining lease for the Carmichael coalmine. Photograph: Nathan Paull/AAP

Adani’s Carmichael coalmine has passed its latest legal hurdle – the Queensland supreme court has dismissed a challenge against grants of a mining lease and environmental authority for the $21m project in the state’s Galilee Basin.
Environmental groups had challenged the move on legal grounds, saying the Queensland government had erred in granting the approvals for the Indian mining group’s huge project.
But the court disagreed, finding there was no breach of the Environmental Protection Act in granting the approvals to the proposed coalmine and transport network, and dismissing the appeal.
It takes the project, to be the biggest coal mine in Australia, one step closer to fruition as major works are due to start next year.
The Queensland Resources Council chief executive, Ian Macfarlane, welcomed the court’s decision and urged activists to get out of the way of the project. “I think we’ve been through so many environmental processes, so many appeals to environmental processes,” Macfarlane told reporters outside the court.
“The work has been done, the environmental issues have been dealt with, it’s time that this mine went ahead.”
The Environmental Defenders Office disputed the claim, and its spokeswoman Jo-Ann Bragg said the court had ruled only on whether the approvals should have been granted to the project, not whether the minewas a threat to the environment. “I think it’s absolutely crucial in a democracy to see our environmental laws, which we rely on to protect the environment, are actually enforced,” Bragg said.
The director of the conservation group Coast and Country, Derec Davies, expressed disappointment in the supreme court decision. “It only goes to reflect that poor environmental assessment in Queensland reflects the weak environmental protection laws that we have,” Davies said.

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