Greens: Industry is Pulling Out of Galilee Basin (Australia)

The Abbott Government must not approve the Abbot Point coal port expansion in the Great Barrier Reef, with reports today that low coal prices could mean the industry won’t need it anyway, say the Australian Greens.

“Industry is pulling out of the Galilee Basin because the world doesn’t want to buy our climate-destroying coal,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens mining spokesperson, said.

“The railway plan to connect the Galilee Basin mega mines to the Abbot Point coal port is being downsized and Greenpeace analysis shows one of those mines, the Carmichael mine, is unviable.

“This comes after BHP pulled out if its part of the Abbot Point expansion and Glencore Xstrata scrapped plans for another Great Barrier Reef coal port.

“With the big mining companies getting out, the Abbott Government must not approve the unnecessary expansion of the Abbot Point coal port, which would see 3 million cubic metres of seabed dredged up and dumped in the Reef’s World Heritage waters.

“And the Newman Government needs to accept we’re at the end of the fossil fuel era, instead of trying to prop up the dying industry in the Galilee Basin with royalty discounts for the big mining companies.

“Mining magnates don’t need a discount rate to destroy our Great Barrier Reef and climate, especially with the CFMEU report out today showing only 20 percent of the Australian mining industry’s income goes to workers.

“Instead of sacrificing our groundwater and Reef, which underpin Queensland’s agricultural and tourism industries, to prop up the dying Galilee Basin coal industry, our governments should be supporting the safe, viable, renewable alternatives we have on hand,” Senator Waters said.

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Press Release, November 26, 2013