24/10/2020

(AU) Queensland Teenagers Lodge Legal Action Against Adani Coal Mine To Save Great Barrier Reef

ABC News - Stephen Long
Claire Galvin wants the environmental approvals given to Adani's Carmichael mine revoked. (Supplied: Claire Galvin)


Claire Galvin grew up in Cairns and fell in love with the Great Barrier Reef.

"I spent my life snorkelling the reef," the 19-year-old says.

"Every time we go out to the reef it's absolutely stunning."

She's worried that burning coal from Adani's Carmichael mine, and the new coal region it's opening up in Queensland, will threaten the reef's survival.

"The impacts of the carbon emissions will devastate the reef and we don't want that to happen," she said.

Today, Ms Galvin and north Queensland year 12 student Brooklyn O'Hearn are launching a last-ditch attempt to challenge the approval of Adani's Carmichael mine and railway project.

Claire Galvin (left) and Brooklyn O'Hearn want the Great Barrier Reef to remain a wonder for generations to come. (Supplied: Claire Galvin)

A law firm acting for them has written to Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley calling for a revocation of the environmental approvals given to Adani's venture.

A spokesperson for Ms Ley confirmed the minister's office had received the correspondence and said the minister would consider it in due course.

The letter has argued the previous minister, Greg Hunt, failed to properly assess the implications for climate change and the reef when he approved the venture in 2015 — relying on reports from experts working under strict court rules that require them to give impartial evidence.

"The robust independent scientific evidence" being presented to Ms Ley shows the project "will have a significant impact on the Great Barrier Reef that was not identified in the assessment" according to Ariane Wilkinson of the law firm Environmental Justice Australia.

When he gave it the go-ahead back in 2015, Mr Hunt said he could not form a "robust conclusion" about whether the Adani mine would contribute to global warming and further endanger the Great Barrier Reef, partly because it could not be known whether its output would merely replace coal currently provided by other suppliers.

Claire Galvin wants other children to have the chance to snorkel on the reef like she did growing up. (Supplied: Claire Galvin)


This argument is plain wrong, according to Paul Burke, an economist at the Crawford School at Australian National University.

"The 'substitution effect' assumption that a large new coal mine will have no implications for emissions is highly implausible," he said.

"A new coal mine puts additional coal into the market, brings the price down and encourages coal use across the world."

In his export report, Associate Professor Burke concludes up to half of the coal from the Adani mine would add to, rather than supplant, supply from other mines and that it would also displace lower emissions energy sources such as gas and renewables.

Although Adani's initial mine will be much smaller, it has approval to extract up to 60 million tonnes of coal a year, which would make it one of the largest mines in the world.

Analysts also believe the railway Adani is building to shift coal to the port will facilitate the development of the proposed China Stone and Hyde Corner projects nearby, with their substantial output further contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate scientist Bill Hare, who has provided an export report for the challenge, said he was "increasingly outraged at the failure of governments everywhere to consider the overall climate consequences of these kinds of actions".

The Great Barrier Reef is at risk of being destroyed by coral bleaching caused by climate change. (Supplied: Queensland Museum, Gary Cranitch)

A spokesperson for Adani said the company's Carmichael coal mine was "one of the most rigorously assessed projects in Australian history, as it was subject to eight years of comprehensive assessment, review and legal challenges".

"Over the past decade activists have unsuccessfully tried to use the Australian legal system to argue that Adani's Carmichael mine should not be approved because of the emissions created when coal is used to generate electricity overseas and the impact that would have on the Great Barrier Reef," the spokesperson said.

Since Adani's venture was given environmental approval, the Great Barrier Reef has suffered a series of mass coral bleaching events caused by rising sea temperatures linked to global warming.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, even if the world achieves its goal under the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the world will still suffer a loss of 70 to 90 per cent of reef-building corals.

If temperatures rise by 2 per cent or more above pre-industrial levels, the Great Barrier Reef would be destroyed with 99 per cent of corals being lost.

Professor Hare said burning all the coal approved for mining at Adani's Queensland site would alone use up 3.3 per cent of the world's remaining 'carbon budget' for limiting warming to 1.5C.

If the two nearby mines also go ahead, this would rise to almost 6 per cent.

Brooklyn (left) and Claire argue former environment minister Greg Hunt failed to properly assess the implications for the reef when he approved the mine in 2015. (Supplied: Claire Galvin)

"I think the only responsible thing for the Australian Government to do is to review the licenses for these projects and to stop them," he said.

In central Queensland communities that rely on coal mining jobs, there is extensive support for the Adani mine, but Ms Galvin points out that in the community she grew up on the reef, a World Heritage-listed natural wonder, drives the tourism and underpins the economy.

"Minister Ley has a choice," she says.

The reality is it's a long shot — but a teenager can dare to dream.

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