Queensland Government Minister Anthony Lynham today issued the mining lease for the massive Carmichael coal mine, which will see the mining of 60 million tonnes of coal every year.
“There is no question that the Reef is suffering right now. Coral scientists, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and even the Queensland Government have acknowledged the severity of this latest bleaching,” said Shani Tager, Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s Reef Campaigner.
“The federal and Queensland environment ministers are wringing their hands, despairing over the state of the Great Barrier Reef, yet at the same time they are paving the way for the nation’s biggest coal mine - a development that can only harm the Reef.
“Protecting the reef and approving the Carmichael mining lease are diametrically opposed. You cannot do both.
“This decision is appalling. The Great Barrier Reef is World Heritage-listed because it is a natural wonder of the world, and right now its most pristine areas are suffering from bleaching because the waters are too warm.
“The Queensland Government are supposed to be taking care of our Reef, instead they’re giving coal companies the green light to keep mining and burning coal that is driving climate change and bleaching our Reef,” said Ms Tager.
The proposed mine would be 28,000 hectares and has already been given a green light by the Federal Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt.
“The Queensland Government has recognised that the bleaching means we need a rapid reduction in carbon emissions and yet they are approving a massive new coal mine. Coal that is exported and burnt overseas is still our problem, it is still hurting our Reef,” said Ms Tager.
Despite the Government support, the Carmichael project remains in financial disarray and faces legal challenges as well as a coal market in structural decline.
“International investors have shunned Carmichael because funding it would be a major financial risk. It would be senseless for the Queensland or federal governments to throw any money into a project that makes no economic sense and would further threaten our fragile Reef,” she said.
If it ever got to full production, the Carmichael coal mine would put 121 million tonnes of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere each year.
ENDS