Archive for April 3rd, 2016

Australia: Decision on coal mine ‘defies reason’

Age: The decision on Sunday to approve mining leases for Queensland's Carmichael coal mine is akin to "evil", according to one of the world's foremost marine scientists. "It defies reason," said Dr Charlie Veron, former chief scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. "I think there is no single action that could be as harmful to the Great Barrier Reef as the Carmichael coal mine." The $21.7 billion project, which involves mine, rail and port facilities, would allow Indian multinational...

Indigenous Peoples and Greenpeace Demand an End to Amazonian Dam Project

Blue and Green: Activists today peacefully protested against a planned mega dam project in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Austrian company Andritz, one of the global leaders in technology for hydroelectric dams. The São Luiz do Tapajós-dam would be built in the Tapajós River, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. In the early morning, 50 Greenpeace activists from Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Austria and France constructed a 10-meter replica dam in front of the...

Great Barrier Reef pollution control efforts ‘not enough to meet targets’

AAP: Australia is unlikely to meet water quality targets designed to protect the Great Barrier Reef, researchers from the federal government’s marine science agency have warned. Scientists, including two from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), have published a study that says current efforts to reduce pollution run-off into the reef’s waters are not enough to meet set targets. Their findings, published in the Global Change Biology journal on Sunday, came as the Queensland government...

Green and Indigenous groups furious over Queensland’s Carmichael coalmine lease approval

AAP: Conservationists and traditional owners have been floored by Queensland’s decision to grant mining leases for Adani’s mega-coalmine while two court challenges are unresolved. The Queensland government has cleared the last major state hurdle for the Indian miner to proceed with its $22bn coalmine (which would be Australia’s largest), rail and port project in the Galilee Basin and at Abbot Point. But even Adani says it won’t make a final investment decision on the project until legal challenges...

Australia: Adani’s Carmichael coalmine leases approved by Queensland

AAP: The Queensland government has granted three mining leases for Adani’s multi-billion dollar Carmichael coalmine, which will be the largest in Australia. Environmental groups say the mine will fuel global warming and compound threats to the world heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef amid one of its worst coral bleaching events on record. The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, and the mines minister, Anthony Lynham, made the announcement in Mackay on Sunday. The premier put the value of the project...