The Adani Coal Mine Could Still Get Blocked by the QLD Government

Yesterday, Australia’s federal government announced they had officially signed off on the Adani Carmichael coal mine. The decision, actioned by Environment Minister Melissa Price, effectively gave the nod of approval to the Indian mining company’s groundwater management scheme, and green-lit the controversial project to go ahead pending the approval of the Queensland Government.

It was broadly criticised as a rushed decision, made under pressure from Queensland MPs who wanted the mine approved before the election was called. But in the time since that announcement was made, it’s since been reported that the Queensland government could have reason to block the groundwater management scheme, and in turn the project itself, on environmental grounds.

Scientific reviews suggest that the Adani company has been unable to satisfy a longstanding state environmental condition, according to The Guardian, which requires it to locate and identify the source of the Doongmabulla Springs complex—a cluster of wetlands near the mine’s proposed site. Despite the company claiming to have found the sole source of the complex at the Clematis sandstone, the CSIRO and Geoscience Australia concluded their plans were based on assumptions that were “not reasonable”, thus compromising the groundwater management scheme.

“The information provided… as well as in the public domain is clear that uncertainty still exists in this regard,” the reports state. “While the Clematis sandstone may be a principal source aquifer for the springs, based on the information currently available, it is not reasonable to assert that it is the sole source aquifer.

“Proposed monitoring and management approaches do not sufficiently address the uncertainty regarding potential alternative or additional source aquifers.”

Moreover, while Melissa Price stressed that “CSIRO and Geoscience Australia have independently assessed the groundwater management plans” and the “project has been subject to the most rigorous approval process of any mining project in Australia,” The Guardian states that the Queensland Department of Environment and Science wasn’t given access to those reports until half an hour before the federal government’s announcement. That department now faces mounting pressure to make a decision on the project—although there’s no statutory timeframe for them to do so, and the chances of it happening before the election are looking slim.

Queensland environment minister Leeanne Enoch pointed out that the federal government’s decision “reeks of political interference” and stressed that “the [groundwater plan] will be considered against Queensland’s own environmental conditions… free from political interference.

“Initial advice from [the department] is that a number of uncertainties remain,” she said. “This includes whether the [plan] definitively identifies the source aquifers of the Doongmabulla Springs complex, which has always been a requirement for state approval.”

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