The Federal Court has rejected the government’s approval of Adani’s Carmichael coal mine, giving Environment Minister Greg Hunt the perfect opportunity to reconsider his decision and this time reject the proposal, the Australian Conservation Foundation said.
Following a legal challenge by Mackay Conservation Group, the Federal Court today revoked the government’s approval of the controversial proposal to dig the largest coal mine in Australia in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
ACF recently wrote to Mr Hunt, drawing the Minister’s attention to new evidence showing Adani’s planned mega mine would pollute the basin’s groundwater and destroy 10,000 hectares of the habitat of the largest known population of the endangered southern black-throated finch.
ACF’s President Geoff Cousins has also been talking to potential investors in the mine, alerting them to ACF’s concerns.
“Greg Hunt must now review his approval of the Carmichael mine – and this time he should reject the disastrous proposal,” said ACF’s CEO Kelly O’Shanassy.
“In recent weeks ACF has been talking to potential investors about the serious problems with this proposal, of which there are many.
“If it went ahead this project would destroy wildlife habitat, damage precious artesian water and contribute to the global climate problem once the coal is burned.
“Many investors also feel the drop in the price of coal is making the project unviable.
“Without the intervention of community groups, this project would be proceeding – it highlights again the importance of independent voices for the environment and the weakness of national laws that are supposed to protect the environment.
“We believe the weight of this new information means the Minister cannot – must not – make the same approval decision he made before,” she said.
For more information on the Galilee Basin, read ACF's, Our Great Dividing Range report
