Queensland's proposed Carmichael coalmine faces legal bid over climate change

Environmental activists have begun a legal bid to prevent the creation in Queensland of Australia’s largest mine, citing its contribution to global climate change and potential impact on water and biodiversity.

Coast and Country, a Queensland environment group, opens its case against the $16.5bn Carmichael mine in the state land court on Tuesday morning.

The group argues that the mine, owned by Indian firm Adani, presents “unacceptable risks” to the climate, the region’s groundwater, biodiversity and economy.

Ten experts, including a Potsdam Institute climate scientist, Malte Meinshausen, and a scuba diver and tourism operator, Tony Fontes, will deliver fresh information on the mine’s impact on the economy and environment, including the Great Barrier Reef, over the next five weeks.

The Carmichael mine, 160km north-west of Clermont, is the largest of numerous proposed mines intended to open up the coal-rich Galilee Basin in central Queensland.

Covering 280 sq km, the mine would be Australia’s largest. It would use a new 300km rail line to transfer up to 60m tonnes of coal a year to an expanded port at Abbot Point, where it would be shipped to overseas markets, predominantly India.

The mine would release about 3bn tonnes of greenhouse gases over its 60-year lifespan due to “fugitive” emissions from mining processes, says Adani.

Adani’s project is facing two legal actions. The other, launched by the Mackay Conservation Group, is targeted at perceived deficiencies in the approval of the mine by the federal environment minister, Greg Hunt.

Coast and Country’s case is aimed at stopping the Queensland government handing Adani a mining lease. The group argues there has been insufficient analysis of the mine’s impact on water and endangered species, and of the knock-on effects of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.

Rajesh Gupta, Adani’s group financial controller, will be questioned over the financial position of the mine in a closed hearing that forms part of the proceedings. In approving the project, the federal government has said the mine will add $2.97bn to the Queensland economy each year over 60 years, creating 2,475 construction jobs and a further 3,920 once the project is operating in 2017.

“This mine is too risky for the million-year-old underground springs, the Great Barrier Reef and its tourism industry and the world’s climate,” said Derec Davies, a spokesman for Coast and Country.

“The project got very special treatment from the previous Queensland government and we will seek to demonstrate the flaws and inadequacies of the environmental impact assessments.

“We have some of the most highly respected technical people in their fields covering off water, and threatened flora and fauna, such as the black-throated finch. This court will be the first Queensland assessment body to have all of the facts presented in front of it.”

Davies said he hoped the mine would be rejected outright and that it would prompt state and federal governments to reject mines based on their climate change ramifications.

Last week representatives from the Wangan and Jagalingou people said they wanted to reject the Carmichael mine due to its impact upon their ancestral lands, which are under native title application.

A number of banks, including Citi, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, have ruled out funding the expansion of the Abbot Point port.

Adani was contacted for comment on the start of legal proceedings.