Central Queensland Coal – A Win!
Proponent: Clive Palmer
Location: Just south of Ogmore
Mine area: 2,661 ha with a disturbance area estimated at 1360 ha
Life of mine: 20 years
Coal volume: 200 million tonnes
Type of coal: Thermal and metallurgical
Fantastic news! Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has rejected the Central Queensland Coal project! She listened to the scientists, the Queensland government and the community with the announcement coming through on 7 February 2023. The Federal Government’s Independent Expert Scientific Committee (IESC) handed down a damning assessment of the project, saying it threatened significant and irreversible damage to internationally valued ecosystems subjected to mine-affected water among other serious impacts. The Queensland Department of Environment and Science, for the first time ever, also recommended that this mine be refused: “Taking into account all of the relevant information, I have determined that overall, the project poses a number of unacceptable risks and that the project, as proposed, is not suitable. As such, I consider that the project is not suitable to proceed.” In August 2022, Minister Plibersek requested comment on her proposed decision to refuse the Central Queensland Coal project. More than 9,000 public comments were submitted, with 98 per cent in favour of blocking the project. People power in action! The final decision has been announced by the federal Environment Minisiter, Tanya Plibersek – the mine has been refused.
Environmental impacts
Key potential impacts from this project, identified by the IESC, are:
* significant and irreversible damage to internationally valued estuarine and near-shore ecosystems subjected to mine-affected water;
* changes to surface water quality from controlled and uncontrolled discharges, with the potential to impact aquatic environments within, adjacent to, and downstream of the project site;
* from drawdown below some 165 ha of riparian groundwater-dependent ecosystems (the habitat for the endangered koala and greater glider) and to stygofaunal communities in the Styx River alluvium;
* from drawdown (of up to 4.7 m along sections of Tooloombah Creek and up to 60 m reduction along 11.8 km of Deep Creek) that will reduce the volume and persistence of dry-season pools and reduce baseflow in both creeks for decades post-mining;
* groundwater interaction with the backfilled voids that could mobilise contaminants from the waste rock and coal rejects within the voids and discharge these contaminants to surface waterways, posing a legacy water quality issue;
* direct loss of approximately 8.35 km of waterways that provide fish passage during periods of high rainfall and flood; and
* disturbance of sodic soils, which are prone to erosion, potentially increasing sediment loads in local waterways and contributing sediment to the GBRWHA.
“The IESC cannot envisage any feasible mitigation measures, including offsets, that could safeguard these irreplaceable and internationally significant ecological assets and their associated water resources”.