Bimblebox Nature Refuge

Coal stockyards at Abbot Point, with Caley Valley Wetlands in background. Guess where the run-off will end up?

Clive Palmer has disgraced himself over this last week, flying back from Beijing with a supposed ‘in the bag deal’ with a Chinese state-owned power company for his “China First” project. The $60bill deal was downgraded to a ‘framework agreement’ only, after the Chinese company responded to Palmer’s inaccuracies.

What the concerned public and potential investors need to understand is that Waratah’s “China First” project has not yet secured any environmental approvals, and currently the company only holds exploration permits – not a mining lease. Palmer’s announcements are not only misleading, they are ridiculously premature. The impact assessment for Waratah’s development began only late last year, and due to the scale of their proposal it will require years of assessment for it to be at all credible. And there are serious environmental concerns with all stages of Palmer’s proposed development.

Not that the lack of approvals has diminished Premier Anna Bligh’s enthusiasm, who is eager to sell off Queensland’s natural resources to prop up the state’s economy, rather than support genuine long-term industries that would not degrade Queensland and the global climate system.

A couple of the Bimblebox team visited Bowen this week to attend a breakfast with Hancock’s managing director and to attend a tour of Abbot Point coal export terminal. Both Hancock and Waratah plan to export their bounties of Galilee Basin coal through the Abbot Point terminal. Currently around 15Mt of coal are exported through Abbot Point, but there are plans to increase this to 110Mt, and even 230Mt in the future. The export facility’s coal stockyards are directly adjacent to the nationally significant Caley Valley wetlands which are home to at least 200 bird species, many of which breed in the wetlands. The shipping route would be directly through the Great Barrier Reef. So it is clear that at both the mine site and the export site there are likely to be unacceptable impacts from the proposed projects… and so what about the proposed 100m wide 500km long new rail-line? And the water pipe line? Incredibly, the routes of the railway and pipeline have not been disclosed to the public but we will report on these when we learn more.

Hundreds of Queenslanders will be sending this postcard to Premier Bligh this new year to tell her that they don’t want to see the biodiverse remnant woodland and sustainable land management on Bimblebox Nature Refuge sacrificed for the sake of digging out more climate-changing coal. If you would like to print out your own, here is the pdf version: postcard pdf

Grevillea in flower on Bimblebox Nature Refuge, threatened by Waratah Coal's "China First" mine

Will our representatives in Copenhagen this week admit to the power of the Australian coal lobby or the fact that in Queensland a plethora of new coal mines is assuring Australia’s addiction to coal for decades to come? As if their associated carbon emissions weren’t bad enough, many of the new coal mines are threatening some of the precious few private protected areas in the state.

Privately managed nature refuges have no legal protection from exploration or mining in Queensland. There are currently sixty-one Queensland Nature Refuges with coal mining exploration permits (applied for or granted) either within or adjacent to their borders. They range in size from a few hectares to thousands. Let’s look at the State government’s position on mining in nature refuges:

“A nature refuge does not alter any existing or future rights related to mineral or petroleum exploration and extraction. However, a nature refuge may require additional conditions on exploration and where a proposed nature refuge is considered to be of outstanding conservation significance, the conservation significance must be addressed on a case-by-case basis in relation to any proposed exploitation of the resource.”

Given that there has been virtually no rejection of mining license applications in Australia, this weakly worded position does not bode well for nature refuges that sit above mineral deposits. Coal deposits are particularly plentiful in Queensland, so this inevitable conflict between coal and conservation looks set to increase.

Two and a half inches of rain has given fresh life to Bimblebox Nature Refuge, with birds, insects and reptiles more active than ever. The rain has also allowed for the next stage of Queensland Herbarium research at Bimblebox on the use of fire as an important land-management tool (integral to Australian ecology), and the effects on native flora.

Despite the thriving biodiversity and cutting-edge research on Bimblebox, unfortunately there is still no security from Waratah’s proposed coal mine. Earlier this week Premier Anna Bligh visited the region and spoke in glowing terms about the fossil fuel developments near Alpha which will supply jobs to the district and revenue for the state government. What is omitted in all government rhetoric are the substantial negative impacts from coal mining, ranging from the loss of employees from the local agricultural industry to the environmental impacts from the coal mine itself, through to the port where it will be shipped and of course the end climate impact when the coal is burnt for energy production.

It is extremely premature of Anna Bligh to announce her support for these projects when there has not been any regional assessment of the cumulative impacts of the proposed mines, and none of the Environmental Impact Assessments for the individual projects have been completed. How can there be any credible outcome when there is such strong government support for the projects?

Part owner of Bimblebox Nature Refuge Paola Cassoni had a successful visit to Brisbane early this week where she gave a public presentation on the current mining threat to the 8000 hectares of remnant ecosystems on Bimblebox, participated in a protest outside the Major Projects Conference at the Brisbane Convention Centre, and met with the Queensland Minister for Infrastructure and Planning.

Paola was able to tell the minister and other government agency reps directly how it feels to have 8000 hectares of remnant ecosystems without protection from the aspirations of Waratah Coal to develop one of the biggest coal mines in the world. Recently 100 new exploration drilling holes for Bimblebox were approved by the Department of Environmental and Resource Management (DERM), without consulting or notifying the landholders.

To Paola and other effected landholders, the fact that mineral interests can annihilate all other land values feels like another round of terra nullius in Australia…. Will it take another 200 years for the government to acknowledge the injustice in current legislation?? Of course, by then it will be too late. If we are serious about protecting biodiversity and addressing climate change, the coal lobby and royalty-hungry government must be held accountable now.

Too Valuable to Mine: Coal Expansion on Nature Refuges

Hear the stories of those on the frontline of the campaign against coal in Queensland. An information night about the expansion of the coal industry into Western Central Queensland (the Galilee Coal Basin) and its impacts on biodiversity and communities.

6-8pm Monday the 12th October
Theatrette, Brisbane Square Library
Cnr Adelaide and George St, Brisbane City

Speakers include:
Paola Cassoni
Part owner of “Bimblebox”, a nature refuge in Western Central Queensland, threatened by coal mining. Paola will talk about her personal experience trying to protect Bimblebox from one of the largest coal mining proposals in the world.
Patricia Julien
Coordinator of the Mackay Conservation Group, will discuss Coal-based energy and synfuels expansion in Central Queensland: at what costs to wildlife and communities?

Paola and Patricia are in Brisbane to meet with ministers and protest at the Major projects Conference at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on the 13th October. You are invited to join them in their protest to say that Queensland’s coal industry should not be expanding because the cost to the climate and our local environment is too high!

Protest:
10:30 am Tuesday the 13th October
Brisbane Convention Centre, Corner of Merivale Street and Glenelg, South Bank
Wear an animal costume for a biodiversity ‘die in’ or bring an animal placard or soft toy.
When October 12th, 2009 6:00 PM through 8:00 PM
Location

Brisbane Square Library, Theatrette
Cnr Adelaide and George st
Brisbane City,
Contact Phone: 07 38465793
Email: eleanor.anne@gmail.com

The federal and Queensland state governments both required Waratah Coal to produce an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for their proposed development. The state and federal EIS requirements have been rolled into one and is being administered through the Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning (DIP). The draft terms of reference for the EIA were open for public comment until Jun29th 2009. The DIP is currently reviewing the public comments and then the terms of reference will be given to Waratah Coal to complete their EIS. Many details of the proposed development will not be known until Waratah releases its completed EIS.