New plans to dredge the Great Barrier Reef for thousands of coal ships

Coal is killing the reef

Despite everything that's happened, the Australian government has submitted brand new plans to dredge millions of tonnes of Great Barrier Reef seabed to build a giant coal port at Abbot Point. Dredging in the World Heritage Area to build a new coal port is insane. Protesters have until next Friday to lodge objections. “The Abbott government has made it clear they'll pursue this disastrous project no matter what the cost. And the costs are truly staggering,” writes the GetUp! activism group, which claims nearly a million followers and many political successes.

 

The Indian Adani company, which has an atrocious environmental and human rights record, wants to dredge millions of tonnes of seabed in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Adani has a documented history of environmental destruction, theft and bribery.

 

The dredging will make way for thousands of ships to carry coal through the Reef each year.

 

Adani need the port to build the Carmichael mine, which will be one of the largest coal mines in the world. The mine will destroy the land of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners, spew 130 million tonnes of carbon pollution into the atmosphere every year, and use twelve billion litres of groundwater.


“Hundreds of thousands of Australians have already taken action,” GetUp! writes, noting that more than a dozen of the world's biggest banks have rushed to distance themselves from the project. And it's why major companies have refused to buy coal from Adani's mine. “No-one wants to be remembered as the investor that helped destroy one of our greatest natural wonders.”

“No-one, it seems, except our government, who want to use public funds to prop up Adani's dirty and unviable coal project. We need to use every weapon in our democratic arsenal to stop this big dirty coal port harming our Reef.

“Last time the Abbott Government tried to fast-track plans to dredge at Abbot Point, Environment Minister Greg Hunt attempted to suppress our voices by limiting the time the public could have their say.

“But we weren't silenced. More than 80,000 people from across the environment movement and beyond made submissions — more than for any other project in Australian history.

“That response was game-changing — it put Abbot Point back in the spotlight and made it so toxic that the Queensland government were forced to rule Adani's old dredging plans invalid, and sent the mining giant back to the drawing board.

“But the proposal to dredge at Abbot Point just keeps coming back. This time with the potential backing of hundreds of millions of dollars of government money.

“They need to know that we won't stand for damaging the Great Barrier Reef to line the pockets of a mining billionaire. This is the third time Adani has tried to dredge our Reef. Let's make it the last.”