Great Barrier Reef Authority Delays Massive Coal Development Decision To End Of January
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The Abbott government seems proud to cite firm promises that it intends to hold port developers to some of the “strictest [environmental] conditions in Australian history.” These include a 150% net benefit requirement for water quality after dredging; a financial contribution of $89 million for reef health; and 95 other environmental conditions. Considered against the risks of development to the reef, these measures may appear strict to Australians, but compared to the $42.5 billion BP has thus far set aside for one single offshore drilling accident in 2010 at its Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, they fall woefully short of adequate.
Although the Abbot Point coal terminal itself would be sited outside the marine park area, the proposal for it includes dumping five-and-a-half million tons of mud and sand dredged up during port construction back into the protected waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The dredge spoil disposal is what places the port development project under the authority of the GBRMPA. The authority was expected to announce its own decision on the facility’s dumping question on Friday. However, at the very last minute that morning, the group postponed it:
The Marine Park Authority is now “carefully considering the permit application from North Queensland Bulk Ports,” GBRMPA’s biodiversity, conservation and sustainable use manager, Bruce Elliot, stated. “We have extended the time for making a decision on the dredge disposal application under the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act until 31 January 2014.”
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Adding to the controversy, reporter Alexander Reed Kelly pointed out yesterday that according to an independent government finding in August, dredging sediment can travel much farther than scientists had previously thought. “The risks include sediment being disturbed by severe weather. Even a cursory look at Queensland’s weather patterns near the Reef over the past decade would show that severe weather, including tropical cyclones and flooding, is a regular occurrence, even if you disregard massively destructive events like Cyclone Yasi.”
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http://planetsave.com/2013/12/21/big-coal-moves-great-barrier-reef/
