Australia: Don't allow a coal mine to destroy the Great Barrier Reef

  • by: Georgina B
  • recipient: Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott & Environment Minister, Greg Hunt

The Australian government has given permission for one of the world's biggest coal mines to go ahead. The Carmichael mine has been fiercely opposed by environmentalists due to its potential impact upon The Great Barrier Reef, groundwater at the mine site and its significant carbon emissions.

The mine will consist of a network of mines in the Galilee Basin region of central Queensland. Coal will be then be transported by rail to the controversial but yet to be expanded Abbot Point coal port export terminal.

Five million tonnes of seabed will be dug up and dumped within the Great Barrier Reef in order to expand Abbot Point for coal exports.

Conservationists estimate that there will be a further 480 ships crossing the Great Barrier Reef because of the Carmichael project, in an area home to humpback whales, sea turtles and dugongs. Furthermore, Greenpeace has stated that additional 128m tonnes of carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere from coal dug out of the mine.

Moreover, the mining company overseeing the project – the Indian giant Adani - has been previously fined in India for violating environmental conditions.

The Great Barrier Reef, the creatures of the Pacific Ocean, the groundwater of the Galilee Basin and the atmosphere all need to be protected from this environmental nightmare. Please sign the petition to demand the Australian government reverses its decision to allow the Carmichael coal mine to go ahead.

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