10/04/2019

Environment Minister Melissa Price Signs Off On Adani Project

Fairfax - Nicole Hasham

Environment Minister Melissa Price has granted federal approval to the controversial Adani coal mine following intense pressure from her Queensland colleagues to sign off on the plan before the federal election.
Ms Price announced on Tuesday that she had approved the groundwater management plans submitted by the Indian mining giant after CSIRO and Geoscience Australia found they met scientific requirements.
The decision means the company has cleared the final federal hurdle for the project and now only requires Queensland Government approvals to proceed.
Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price was under pressure to sign-off on the Adani project before the election. Credit: Alex Ellinhausen
If the plan was approved during the caretaker period, the government would have been forced to consult Labor before granting permission.
Queensland MPs in the Morrison government have been pressuring Ms Price to approve the plan before the election to appease voters who want the mine to proceed.
The Courier Mail reported yesterday that Coalition senator James McGrath threatened to publicly call for Ms Price to be sacked if she did not sign off on the project.
However it is understood that Liberal MPs in metropolitan seats, whose constituents are concerned about climate change, wanted the approval to be delayed.
Anti-Adani groups are campaigning hard in a number of Coalition-held city seats including Kooyong, held by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Flinders, held by Health Minister Greg Hunt.
Environmentalists say the Adani plan will damage aquifers in the Great Artesian Basin and ground-water dependent rivers and springs, as well as create water shortages for farmers and communities.
The project in Queensland’s Galilee Basin is among the extractive projects granted a special water licence by the Queensland government. The licence runs until 2077 and gives Adani unlimited access to groundwater.
In a statement, Ms Price said CSIRO and Geoscience Australia “have confirmed the revised plans meet strict scientific requirements”.
“Following this independent assessment and the Department of Environment and Energy’s recommendation for approval, I have accepted the scientific advice and therefore approved the groundwater management plans,” she said.
Ms Price said the project still required Queensland government approvals for nine environmental plans and “must meet further stringent conditions of approval from the Commonwealth before it can begin producing coal”.
She said the project “has been subject to the most rigorous approval process of any mining project in Australia”.
The Adani project has attracted widespread public opposition.


Labor leader Bill Shorten questioned how Ms Price could make a sound decision when she was being "bullied" by her peers.
"Another explanation could be that she is satisfied by the science but the LNP heavy handedness … trying to pressure people, now creates a cloud over a process that didn’t need to be there," he said.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has previoulsy warned that any federal approval may face a court challenge if it was rushed or subject to political interference.
On Tuesday the foundation's spokesman Christian Slattery said it was "wrong to think Adani now has the green light start digging up coal in the Galilee Basin".
He said aside from the outstanding state approvals, Adani is awaiting federal approval for an above-ground water scheme needed to support the mine's operation.
The Lock the Gate Alliance said the governemnt had "thrown Central Queenslanders under a bus, and put scarce water resources at risk".
“This rushed decision just prior to the election is one of the most compromised environmental approvals this country has ever seen," spokeswoman Carmel Flint said, adding that independent water experts "have identified glaring failures with the water plan".

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