Kickstart for Adani coalmine in weeks

Adani will begin construction on its controversial $2bn coalmine within weeks after winning final approval.

Crane operators Salih Zanatta and Ramo Imsirovic, in Dysart yesterday, will benefit from the Adani mine go-ahead. Picture: Lachie Millard

Adani will begin construction on its controversial $2 billion coalmine within weeks after winning final approval from the Queensland Environment Department, resulting in warnings from activists of a ramped-up campaign of civil disobedience and further legal challenges.

Nine years after the Indian conglomerate first applied to the Queensland government to build a “mega-mine” in the nascent­ Galilee Basin, and just 26 days after federal Labor was thumped in Queensland at the federal election, the state gave Adani’s groundwater management plan the green light.

Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch — a member of the government’s dominant Left faction — insisted in parliament that the decision was made “free from political interferenc­e” and said Adani had finally satisfied the department it had located the main source aqui­fer of the important Doongmabulla Springs.

“Today’s decision … was not and could not be made by me, or anyone else in the cabinet: it has been made by the regulator, and backed by expert advice,” Ms Enoch said.

Adani had been pressing for the approvals for months with no result. But Labor’s poor showing in Queensland at the May 18 federal­ election sent shockwaves through the Palaszczuk government, with the result partly blamed on the state’s stalling on Adani.

Four days later, Premier Anna­stacia Palaszczuk did an about-face.

The Premier said the federal poll had been a “wake-up call,” declaring she was “fed up” with her own government’s delays and ordering Co-ordinator-General Barry Broe to set deadlines for Adani’s outstanding environmental approvals.

Both Ms Palaszczuk and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad — the Left faction leader whose inner-city seat of South Brisbane is under threat from the Greens — refused to speak to the media after yesterday’s decision.

GRAPHIC: Adani’s Carmichael mine

The Australian understands the groundwater decision did not go to cabinet or the cabinet’s budget review committee, becau­se it was an administrative matter for the department.

Adani Mining chief executive Lucas Dow said the company alread­y had 120 people working in its office in Townsville and 60 onsite in the Galilee Basin, a greenfields province which was expected to be opened up to mining­ if Adani went ahead.

Mr Dow said preparatory works would continue over the next few days before the two-year construction phase began, beginning with earthworks and landclearing.

“From today, in two years’ time, people should be expecting we will export our first piece of coal,” Mr Dow said.

Adani chairman Gautam Adani said he was not blaming others for the controversy the mine proposal had created. “I think we are not blaming anyone else, when we are to blame ourselves,” he told Sky News.

After failing to secure outside financing, Adani downsized its Carmichael project late last year and is now planning to spend $2bn on the mine and rail line, rather than $16.5bn.

The operation is expected to produce 10 million tonnes of thermal coal annually, instead of the original 60 million tonnes.

Mr Dow said the Carmichael proposal was economically viable and would be able to withstand the volatility of the global coal market.

“Our project stands alone and is economically viable as an open-cut operation — that’s what we put forward, that’s what the board approved, that’s now what we are constructing and that’s what we will develop and build in the ­Galilee Basin,” he said.

While Adani can start construction on the mine, it can’t operate­ without other approvals, such as a licence to build and ­operate a rail line, and a royalties agreement with the state ­government. But environmental activists and green groups have warned the fight is not over.

Already, dozens of activists have been arrested in north Queensland after years of campaigning, but Galilee Blockade spokesman Ben Pennings yesterday promised to ramp up resistance and go beyond “socially approved” means to fight the construction of the mine.

“We believe politics has failed us and it’s time for more of a civil resistance strategy,” Mr Pennings told The Australian.

“People campaigned hard and got arrested to save Fraser Island … the Daintree and the Franklin, and they are now seen as heroes.

“We believe we have to ramp up our process so that a majority of people will be listened to.”

Queensland Greens MP Mich­ael Berkman — a former environ­mental lawyer — said he expected legal challenges to follow­ the Environment Department’s decisions.

“These are certainly decisions that are open to judicial review,” Mr Berkman said.

“The way we’ve seen this process­ rushed through, the sort of political interference that’s been involved in the making of both the black-throated finch management plan and the groundwater management plan, I think there’s a real prospect we’ll see groups bring legal challenges against these.

“The way politics has played into the decisions as well, they might have a real shot too.”

The department approved Adani’s plan to protect the endangered black-throated finch late last month.

Its sign-off on the company’s groundwater management plan yesterday came after advice from CSIRO and Geoscience Australia that raised concerns about Adani’s proposal.

“Based on this advice, (the departmen­t) is satisfied (the plan) establishes the main source aquifer­ of the springs as the Clematis Sandstone,” a ­depart­mental statement said ­yesterday.

“CSIRO and Geoscience Australia­ also confirmed that some level of uncertainty in geologica­l and groundwater conceptual models always exists.”

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said north Queenslanders would be holding Adani accountable to make sure the company delivered the jobs it promised.

‘Nonsense is absolutely crazy’

Nationals MP for the central Queensland seat of Capricornia Michelle Landry has slammed environmentalists who are trying to paint the Adani mine as “the wrong thing”, when the mine is creating jobs for Queenslanders doing an hard days work.

“I tell you the nonsense that has been going on about this mine is absolutely crazy — we’re seeing protests by young people in Brisbane about this ... people want to have a good think about where things come from, what coal actually makes, where their cars come from, where their mobile phones come from, when they turn their electricity on that comes from coal,” Ms Landry told RN Breakfast.

Ms Landry said the Adani mine had gone through every state and federal environmental hoop it needed to and would create as many as 1500 direct jobs and more than 6000 indirect jobs.

“People need to have a good think about what people in the regions actually do - people work out in these coal mines, they work their butts off,” Ms Landry said, “I am sick and tired of people we are doing the wrong thing up here, this is people doing a hard days work.”

Ms Landry faltered on the details of how many ongoing jobs the Adani mine would create.

“I’ve don’t have the actual number of the ongoing jobs but it is well over 2000 I believe,” Ms Landry said.

Ms Landry told listeners she was not concerned she did not have assurances from Mr Dow on the specific amount of jobs that would be created.

“I haven’t got the figure,” Ms Landry said, “I will ring (Lucas Dow) and get that figure for you today.”

With Sascha O’Sullivan