14 DAY TRIAL // This past Tuesday, Environment Minister Greg Hunt gave the thumbs up to plans to expand the Abbot Point port, i.e. Australia's most northerly deepwater coal port.
The news made greenheads go ballistic, not only because expanding a coal port is never a good thing, but also because Abbot Point sits at a distance of just 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) from the Great Barrier Reef.
The Barrier is the world's largest coral reef system and also happens to be an UNESCO World Heritage Site, so one would expect an environment minister to do his best to protect it, not give the green light to development plans that threaten its wellbeing.
According to Oil Price, the expansion plans that Australian environment minister Greg Hunt has OKed boil down to the addition of four new coal terminals that would up the port's overall coal capacity to 300 million tonnes.
Apparently, this would represent a 70% increase when compared to the port's current capacity.
Once the expansion is completed, the port's operator, i.e. the Adani Group, will be able to take pride in the fact that its Abbot Point is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world.
The same source tells us that, in order for the Abbot Point port to be expanded as proposed, workers would have to dredge some 3 million cubic meters from the sea floor.
Interestingly enough, the Adani Group first asked that it be allowed to dredge 38 million cubic meters. Environment Minister Greg Hunt said “no” to this request, and instead, only gave the company permission to dredge 3 million cubic meters.
Greg Hunt promises that, although the announced plans for the Abbot Point port's expansion might sound as if the Great Barrier Reef should pack its bags and move elsewhere or risk being badly damaged, measures are taken to protect this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“Some of the strictest conditions in Australian history have been placed on these projects to ensure that any impacts are avoided, mitigated or offset,” the minister reportedly said in a statement.
As was to be expected, environmentalists are not buying it and say that, all things considered, the Great Barrier Reef will be affected by dredging activities carried out in its proximity.
“Dredging and dumping on this scale is a body blow to an already fragile reef,” argued Felicity Wishart, director for the Barrier Reef Campaign at the Australian Marine Conversation Society.