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Statement from Adani Mining - Groundwater Management Plans

11 April 2019

This statement can be attributed to the CEO of Adani Mining, Mr Lucas Dow.  “We welcome the Federal Minister for the Environment’s approval of the groundwater management plans for the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Infrastructure project.  “This approval follows more than 18 months of consultation with the Department, and an independent review by CSIRO and Geoscience Australia.  “The Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Management Plan and the Groundwater Management and Monitoring Plan detail all the activities we will undertake and safeguards we will implement to ensure that we meet the approval conditions for the mine relating to groundwater. This includes a network of more than 100 monitoring bores to track underground water levels.  “The plans will ensure we achieve sustainable environmental outcomes and we’re now looking forward to delivering the thousands of jobs our project will create for people in north and central Queensland.  “Both CSIRO and Geoscience Australia have confirmed the revised plans meet strict scientific requirements”  “Throughout the past 18 months, the Federal Department provided us with certainty of process and timing, including the steps involved in the independent review by CSIRO and Geoscience Australia experts.  “In contrast, the Queensland Government has continued to shift the goal posts when it comes to finalising the outstanding environmental management plans for the mine and is standing in the way of thousands of jobs for Queenslanders.  “Queensland’s Minister for the Environment Leanne Enoch has stated she will not interfere in the “independent regulator’s” decision on our outstanding environmental management plans, while hinting that the approvals will take time and refusing to accept that independent scientific assessments already completed are adequate.  “If this process is to be free of political interference and intervention, the question must be asked, why is the Minister providing media statements and a running commentary on a process that she claims she has no involvement with?  “We expect the State’s final assessments should take a fraction of the six weeks that it took the Commonwealth Government to finalise the groundwater approvals, as Adani has already amended its groundwater management plans to meet the recommendations from independent scientific bodies CSIRO and Geoscience Australia, which have both endorsed the final version of our plans.  “The State Government has all the information it needs to finalise these plans including the rigorous scientific assessment by independent scientific bodies CSIRO and Geoscience Australia.  “The State Government’s process for approval of the outstanding Black-throated Finch Management Plan and Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Management Plan should be efficient and timely, just as they are for other Queensland projects.  “These approvals are all that is needed to allow Adani to begin construction of the Carmichael Mine.  “It’s time the Queensland Government gave us a fair go and stopped shifting the goal posts so we can get on with delivering these jobs.”  (ENDS) Download PDF...