He australian government announced on Wednesday that it had blocked a project to exploit a coal mine because it would endanger the Great Barrier Reefa decision described as historic by environmental groups.
Billionaire miner Clive Palmer’s project wanted to develop an open-pit coal mine 10 kilometers from the reef, threatening a marine wonder and UNESCO world heritage site that has, in recent years, suffered significant coral bleaching due to heat.
“I decided that the adverse environmental impacts are too great”, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said in a videotaped statement. “The risk of contamination and irreversible damage to the reef is very real”he said, also citing risks to fish nursery grounds and the fragile seagrass beds that feed dugongs, a marine mammal.
Following a general consultation, the federal government received, in 10 working days, 9,000 responses from the public against the planned mine in Queensland, it said.
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“This is a great decision by Tanya Plibersek and the first time a federal environment minister has rejected a coal mine under Australian environmental law”said Jaclyn McCosker, an activist with the Australian Foundation for Climate and Energy Conservation.
“The mine would have extracted up to 18 million tons of coal a year to burn here and abroad, fueling floods, droughts and marine heat waves that bleach coral reefs.”he stressed.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society called it “historic decision”.
“This is the first time the Australian government has rejected a coal mine following a federal assessment and should be the first step in rejecting new fossil fuel projects”said Cherry Muddle, the Great Barrier Reef campaigner within the society.
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The reaction of the company promoting the project was requested.
The centre-left Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to power last year vowing to reverse the pro-fossil fuel stance of the previous Conservative government, which had been in power for a decade.
Australia, one of the world’s largest coal exporters, has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 43% by 2030 from 2005 levels, with the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
But the government rejects calls by environmental groups to ban all new mining projects, saying each must be judged individually.
Source: AFP
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Source: Gestion
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