Mumbai: The new Australian government has approved Indian infrastructure conglomerate Adani Group’s $16.5 billion Carmicheal coal mine and rail project in accordance with the Australian environment law, subject to 36 conditions.
“The project has been approved under national environment law subject to 36 strict conditions,” Australia’s environment ministry said on its website.
The Carmichael coal mine and rail project is an open-cut and underground coal mine located approximately 300km inland in remote central Queensland in Australia.
Adani Mining Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of India’s Adani Group, is developing this controversial coal mine with a yield of 60 million tonnes per annum and a 189km railway line.
The Australian environment department said the latest approval was given after responding to all advice from the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development (IESC), with further and strengthened conditions.
The approval is based on the protection and improvement of 31,000 hectares of the southern black-throated finch habitat.
This will also require $1 million of funding for research programmes to improve conservation of the threatened species in the Galilee Basin.
The department has also asked for the protection of Doongmabulla Springs through strict monitoring of groundwater.
“The previous decision to approve the project was set aside at the request of the Australian government in August 2015 as a precautionary measure. This was due to the possibility that the advice on the approval decision had not been provided in a particular manner which may have affected the validity of the decision,” the department said.
“This approval follows a rigorous environmental assessment undertaken by the Queensland Coordinator-General under the One-Stop Shop assessment bilateral process. This assessment was reviewed and verified by the Australian Government department of the environment,” it added.
In making the decision, the Commonwealth environment minister has considered all relevant new information, as well as the previous assessment of the project. Also, additional material was provided by Adani, the Mackay Conservation Group, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Environmental Defenders Office, Birdlife Australia and the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team, the environment ministry website said.
The approval conditions will provide long-term benefits for the environment through the development of an offset package, it said.
However, these measures must be detailed in a Biodiversity Offset Strategy that must be approved by the Commonwealth environment minister before mining can start.
“At a minimum, this must include protection of 31,000 hectares of black-throated finch habitat, 135 hectares of ornamental snake habitat and 5,600 hectares of yakka skink habitat,” it said.
Adani Group initiated the Carmichael coal project in 2010 with plans to develop a coal mine and a rail link with Abbot Point port, but the project soon ran into opposition from environmentalists.
Australia’s indigenous people Wangan and Jagalingou, traditional owners of the land proposed to host Adani Group’s $12 billion mining project, had sought an urgent intervention from the UN to stop the proposed development of the massive Carmicheal coal mine.
In August, overturning environment permissions for the mine, the federal court of Australia said environment minister Greg Hunt had “ignored his own department’s advice about the mine’s impact on two vulnerable species, the yakka skink and the ornamental snake”. The yakka skink is a lizard seen mostly in Queensland.
The Carmichael mine would be among the largest coal mines in the world.
Over 10 international banks, including Adani’s former chief financier for Carmichael, Standard Chartered, and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, have withdrawn from the Carmichael project.
Federal environment minister Greg Hunt’s approval of what could become one of the world’s largest coal mines sets back global efforts to combat climate change, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said on Thursday.
“To approve a massive coal mine that would make species extinct, deplete 297 billion litres of precious groundwater and produce 128.4 million tonnes of CO2 a year is grossly irresponsible,” said ACF president Geoff Cousins. “At a time when the world is desperately seeking cleaner energy options this huge new coal mine will make the effort to combat climate change all the more difficult.”
Cousins cautioned that if it goes ahead the Carmichael mine would be the largest ever dug in Australia and it would take up five times the area of Sydney Harbour.
Minister Hunt’s re-approval of the Carmichael coal mine flies in the face of rising public opposition to the proposal and scientific evidence that shows the mine would destroy 10,000 hectares of habitat for endangered species, including the largest known population of the southern black-throated finch, Cousins said.
“ACF will scrutinize this approval decision and carefully consider our options. We will use all appropriate means to stop this mine,” Cousins said.
In an emailed statement, Adani Australia welcomed Thursday’s announcement by the minister for the environment, Greg Hunt on the approval of the Carmichael Mine and North Galilee Basin Rail (NGBR).
“The Carmichael Mine and NGBR lie at the heart of Adani’s plans to build a long term future with Queensland,” the statement said.
In early August, the approval granted by the minister in July 2014 was partially set aside, following consent orders of the Federal Court to address a legal technicality in the approval process arising from a technical error on the part of the environment department.
Adani noted at the time that the company was confident in the soundness of the broader approvals, that the species involved had been protected by conditions, and that the technical error would be promptly rectified.
“Today’s announcement of the final federal approval for the Carmichael Mine and North Galilee Basin Rail by minister Hunt makes clear that these concerns have been addressed, reflected in rigorous and painstaking conditions,” it said.
“It is certainty over the remaining approvals that is now key to the company progressing its plan to deliver mine, rail and port projects in Queensland that will deliver 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, and $22 billion in taxes and royalties to be reinvested back into community services,” Adani Australia said.
Adani added that it is looking forward to the remaining government approvals and decision processes being dealt with promptly to ensure these job creating projects get back on track, so the much needed economic benefits of this project can commence.
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
