Farmers’ cash drive ‘to save the Great Artesian Basin’

Farmers have likened a mining giant’s proposal to ‘pumping industrial waste in the Great Barrier Reef’ but the project was deemed not to be of national environmental significance.

AgForce chief executive Michael Guerin appealed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor premiers to use their power to halt the proposal.

Farmers have ramped up their campaign against plans to store carbon dioxide waste in the Great Artesian Basin, with advocacy group AgForce launching a fundraiser to support its legal case against the government.

The Queensland advocacy group has underwritten a legal challenge against the government’s decision that Swiss mining giant Glencore’s carbon capture and storage proposal did not need federal environmental approval.

AgForce members fear the trial project, which involves pumping liquefied carbon dioxide by-product from a Queensland coal-fired power station into the aquifer, risks damaging the lifeblood of the state’s agriculture industry.

Glencore subsidiary Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation has rejected the concerns, saying the proposal is based on “robust scientific fieldwork, data and analysis” and that the world will be reliant on similar carbon capture and storage projects to meet climate targets.

In full-page ads taken out in newspapers around the country, including The Australian, AgForce chief executive Michael Guerin appealed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor premiers to use their power to halt the proposal.

“The idea that such a trial could even be considered beggars belief,” Mr Guerin said.

“The possibility it may be ­approved is staggering and simply unacceptable.

“Risking a site such as the basin for carbon capture and storage is not the way to reach your climate targets.”

The group has also appealed for public donations to help bankroll its pending legal action against the government.

AgForce last month warned the Environment Department it ­intended to file action in the Federal Court if the government did not revoke its decision that the project was not a “controlled ­action” – requiring thorough ­departmental scrutiny – under environmental protection laws.

AgForce would also seek an injunction against the Queensland Environment Department, which is currently assessing the application, from making a decision until the judicial review was finished.

“This proposal is akin to pumping industrial waste into the Great Barrier Reef. Would any Australian leader sit back and let that happen?” Mr Guerin said.

“As far as we’re concerned, the Great Artesian Basin is a ‘no go zone’ and what’s proposed by Glencore should be scrapped ­immediately.”

CTSCo has said its proposal has been reviewed by the Australian Government Independent Expert Scientific Committee, the Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment and CSIRO and that the scientific data compiled gave the company “very high confidence” that the project would not impact the agriculture ­sector.