New report shows no penalty for Adani if massive coal mine does more environmental damage than expected.
A new report by the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Environmental Defenders Offices of Australia finds the conditions the federal government set when it approved Adani’s Carmichael coal mine are woefully inadequate and will not protect the environment as claimed.
When the Federal Environment Minister re-approved the coal project in October 2015, he said the approval was subject to “36 of the strictest conditions in Australian history”.
But the new report by ACF and EDOs of Australia finds the conditions:
- will not stop the mine pushing the endangered Black-throated Finch closer to extinction by destroying critical finch habitat in the Galilee Basin
- will not safeguard the ecologically and culturally significant Doongmabulla Springs, and
- will do nothing to protect the Great Barrier Reef from the damage the mine’s coal will do once the coal is burnt.
“Far from being the strictest in Australian history, these conditions have so many gaps you could drive a mining truck through them – which is exactly what Adani intends to do,” said ACF’s CEO Kelly O’Shanassy.
“Adani is permitted to bulldoze an area that is home to the largest surviving population of the endangered Black-throated Finch on the condition that the company provides alternative habitat for the species at another location, yet Adani is not required to protect this alternative habitat before destroying the finch’s current habitat.
“The conditions do not address the problem of the damage the Carmichael mine will do to the Great Barrier Reef once its coal becomes 4.6 billion tonnes of climate pollution.
“Our weak laws effectively give companies like Adani a licence to kill.
“Australia’s laws are clearly not up to the job of protecting the unique creatures and places Australians love.
“The new Minister for Environment & Energy, Josh Frydenberg, should not rely on the previous minister’s approval of the Carmichael mine and the ineffective conditions attached to it, but should re-assess it with all the evidence he now has,” she said.
Licence to Kill report
Read more about our campaign to stop the Carmichael mine.
