Yeah! Activists have carried the day! - in all likelihood saving the Great Barrier Reef....
"Fierce environmental activism is being blamed—and credited—with spurring the potential demise of Australia's controversial Carmichael coal mine project.
Indian mining giant Adani on Tuesday lashed out at activists, accusing them of causing delays that prompted financial backers to withdraw their support for the vast Queensland mine and port expansion along the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).
The project, which environmentalists have long warned would irreparably harm the GBR, has faced significant hurdles, the latest being the announcement by the London-based Standard Chartered bank on Monday that it was withdrawing from its advisory role on the project.
And last week, Australia's federal court revoked government approval of the mine, siding with conservationists who argued that the license given to the project in 2014 did not account for the significant environmental impacts.
The court's decision was "based on a failure by the minister to have regard to the conservation advices for two federally listed vulnerable species"—the yakka skink and the ornamental snake—according to Sue Higginson, principal solicitor of the Environment Defenders Office NSW. The lawsuit also alleged a failure "to consider global greenhouse emissions from the burning of the coal."
If built, Carmichael would be Australia’s largest coal mine and one of the biggest in the world. The construction itself would require massive seafloor dredging along the GBR, while the mine would produce 121 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions yearly at maximum production.
On the same day as the court order, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia also announced it would not be supporting the mine, prompting Greenpeace Australia Pacific climate and energy campaigner Nikola Casule to call the Carmichael project: "unbankable, unprofitable and unconscionable."
"Fierce environmental activism is being blamed—and credited—with spurring the potential demise of Australia's controversial Carmichael coal mine project.
Indian mining giant Adani on Tuesday lashed out at activists, accusing them of causing delays that prompted financial backers to withdraw their support for the vast Queensland mine and port expansion along the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).
The project, which environmentalists have long warned would irreparably harm the GBR, has faced significant hurdles, the latest being the announcement by the London-based Standard Chartered bank on Monday that it was withdrawing from its advisory role on the project.
And last week, Australia's federal court revoked government approval of the mine, siding with conservationists who argued that the license given to the project in 2014 did not account for the significant environmental impacts.
The court's decision was "based on a failure by the minister to have regard to the conservation advices for two federally listed vulnerable species"—the yakka skink and the ornamental snake—according to Sue Higginson, principal solicitor of the Environment Defenders Office NSW. The lawsuit also alleged a failure "to consider global greenhouse emissions from the burning of the coal."
If built, Carmichael would be Australia’s largest coal mine and one of the biggest in the world. The construction itself would require massive seafloor dredging along the GBR, while the mine would produce 121 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions yearly at maximum production.
On the same day as the court order, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia also announced it would not be supporting the mine, prompting Greenpeace Australia Pacific climate and energy campaigner Nikola Casule to call the Carmichael project: "unbankable, unprofitable and unconscionable."
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