Media Release
The Queensland Government is allowing at least eight new coal projects in Great Barrier Reef catchments and floodplains to escape basic environmental assessment because they don’t meet arbitrary coal volume thresholds, despite their destructive impacts on land, water, and climate.
New projects can mine up to two million tonnes of coal per annum, while expansions can mine up to five million tonnes of coal per annum more than their current approval before triggering an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
In response, a coalition of environment and community groups has sent a letter [attached] to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon, criticising the policy and demanding that at the bare minimum, the new coal projects be subject to the same level of scrutiny as larger mines.
In one case, Vitrinite’s proposed Vulcan South project has escaped a requirement to submit an EIS because the proposal is to mine just 1.95 million tonnes of coal per year, just under the 2 million tonne threshold outlined in the Environmental Protection Act guideline. This project will clear more than 1000 ha of koala habitat and 70 ha of greater glider habitat.
Vitrinite has also proposed a second coal mine, the Vulcan Coal complex which also escaped a thorough assessment of the environmental impacts by proposing to mine a further 1.95 million tonnes of coal per year.
Dr Coral Rowston, Director of Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland said
“Splitting the project into two separate mines with coal production rates marginally beneath the EIS threshold is a blatant avoidance of environmental responsibility, particularly when on their website they are presented as one project.
“Mining companies are actively avoiding the costs and public scrutiny associated with a thorough environmental impact assessment, and the Queensland Government is supporting them.
“The other seven coal proposals will also see the destruction of thousands of hectares of habitat where threatened and endangered species such as the koala and greater glider live, will increases the sediment and pollution in floodplains and catchment areas that flow into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and impact on the water which the local farmers are reliant on.
“It’s really concerning that under the current Queensland framework, a mine could theoretically continue expanding in 1.95 million tonnes of coal per annum instalments without ever requiring an EIS.
“It’s a slow death of a thousand cuts at a time when Queensland’s environment is already under never-before-seen pressure from fossil fuel development, despite the Federal Government’s apparent promises to halt the extinction crisis and reduce Australia’s carbon emissions.”
“Despite what the mining lobby would have Queenslanders think, Central Queensland is so much more than just a coal basin. It is home to vibrant communities and unique and breathtaking biodiversity including our much beloved Great Barrier Reef. The Palaszczuk Government is risking all this by allowing these coal projects to fly under the radar.”
“A mining company undertaking a full environmental impact statement is a basic level of accountability to the Queensland community. But projects like these could gain all their approvals before the local community knows anything about them.
“The Palaszczuk Government is fresh from a series of clean energy announcements, yet behind the scenes it allows coal mining companies to sneak new polluting projects through without basic environmental scrutiny,” said Dr Rowston.
EnvA - CQ 