A Queensland Government order that Adani must install new stormwater discharge monitoring equipment at its Abbot Point coal port won’t change the port’s risk to the state’s precious Great Barrier Reef, says the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
The “enforceable undertaking” will also see the government drop its court proceedings against Adani for the March 2017 incident.
Imogen Zethoven, director of strategy at AMCS, said: “Some 64,000 Queenslanders rely on a healthy Reef for their jobs. Our Reef needs cleaner water and a cooler climate – this coal port is a huge risk on both those counts.
“After Cyclone Debbie in 2017, a discharge point at the Adani coal port at Abbot Point saw water flowing into our Great Barrier Reef with concentrations of solids at 800 percent their allowable limits.
“This agreement between Adani and the Queensland Government asks the company to install real-time monitoring equipment to record any future coal-contaminated discharges into the Great Barrier Reef. Any investment that Adani is now making comes after the threat of court proceedings. But as our climate warms, this coastline is going to experience more extreme weather and increasing risk of further discharges.
“This coal port is risking the Reef from its role in helping the world to burn more coal at a time when our Great Barrier Reef is bearing the brunt of the climate emergency.
“Adani’s environmental record in India is terrible, including a major coal spill into the marine environment near Mumbai that it failed to clean up for more than five years. Adani cannot be trusted with our Reef.”
