coal vs coral

7/21/2019 Coal vs Coral

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Australias Great Barrier Reef, the worlds largest coral reef, is home to more than 1,600

species of fish. If two mining companies from India have their way, the region will soon

also host one of the worlds largest coal shipping ports.

Adani Enterprises is behind a $5.5 billion project that will connect Australias largest coal

mine, which its planning in the Galilee Basin in Queensland, to a new terminal at Abbot

Point, about 50 miles from the reef, along the states northeast coast. Adani already owns

one terminal there that exports a small percentage of coal from other mines in

Queensland. The Indian conglomerate GVK and Australian mining company Hancock

Prospecting want to build a third terminal to export coal to Asia.

The mining companies say new infrastructure will boost exports. Environmentalists argue

Photographer: Tom Jefferson/Greenpeace


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that a rise in coal shipments from the area will release more carbon into the atmosphere

and damage coral thats already at risk from climate change. Australia exports about a

million tons of coal a day.

The terminals would be disastrous for the reef, says David Booth, director of the Centre

for Environmental Sustainability at the University of Technology, Sydney, and presidentof the Australian Coral Reef Society. In March, ACRS issued a report warning that

dredging the seabed to enlarge the port would release underwater sediment that would

damage the reef. The Society is also concerned about increases in shipping traffic and coal

dust. GVK Hancock Coal, the Indian-Australian joint venture, has denounced what it calls

a campaign of misinformation about nonexistent impacts to the Great Barrier Reef.

During a visit to Brisbane for the Group of 20 summit last November, President Obamagot a lesson in the politics of the reef. His comments about threats to the ecosystem from

climate change prompted a rebuke from Australias minister for trade and investment,

Andrew Robb, who called them misinformed and unnecessary.


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Australia is trying to avert the embarrassment of the United Nations declaring the reef an

endangered site. Unesco will meet in June to consider a change in status. Prime Minister

Tony Abbott, who as recently as October said coal is good for humanity, has scrambled

to prevent the reputational damage that would come with an endangered designationthe

Great Barrier Reef is a prime tourist destination for its snorkeling and diving. We are all

conservationists, Abbott told reporters on March 21 on an island near the reef, where he

announced a long-term sustainability plan and acknowledged the threat of climate change

to the reef.


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The opposition Labor Party, which took control of the Queensland government in

February, is allowing the projects to go forward, but it quickly moved to scrap port

expansion proposals that called for developers to dump dredging waste in a nearby

wetland or directly into the ocean. On March 11 the new state government announced that

all dumping must go to an onshore site next to the Abbot Point terminal, which is

designed to keep sediment away from the reef. The plan also calls for industry, not

taxpayers, to foot the bill for the dredging. The proposal is environmentally sustainable

and fiscally responsible, the Queensland government said in its announcement.

Still, the projects future is unclear. Critics have launched legal challenges. With coal

prices worldwide down by more than half in recent years, Daniel Morgan, a UBS analyst

in Sydney, says prices would need to jump more than 40 percent for the projects to be

viable. New supply is not needed by the market in the next 10 years, he says.

Adani wants to start producing coal in 2017. GVK wont give a start date but says it will

create 7,500 construction jobs and $30.5 billion in royalties and tax revenue. Adani says

10,000 jobs and $16.8 billion in royalties and tax revenue will come from its project.

While global demand for coal may be slowing, India is still forecast to pass the U.S. as the

worlds second-biggest user by 2019, with annual growth of 4.8 percent in its demand,according to an International Energy Agency report in December. The slide in coal prices

wont hurt the business case for extracting coal from the Galilee Basin, says Josh Euler,

general manager for external affairs with GVK Hancock Coal, since the project will use

cutting-edge methods that make mining less expensive. It will be one of the lowest-cost

coal-producing operations in Australia, he says. When it comes to cyclical swings in

prices, he adds, we are relatively immune.

The bottom line:Two Indian mining companies say infrastructure improvements at

Abbot Point will boost Australias coal exports.

coal vs coral

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