Australia exports an enormous amount of coal, so it is no small matter for Canberra to block a proposed open pit coal mine only six miles from the Great Barrier Reef. The reef is under stress from warming ocean temperatures causing coral bleaching. It has suffered four mass bleaching events in the last six years. Allowing the pit to go forward would pose an additional burden of pollution. As one of the world's largest exporters of coal, Australia has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 43% from 2005 levels. The country's new center-left government has promised to shift the previous Conservative government's pro-mining policies. Australia'S Green Party has been urging the Labour government to block all new coal and gas projects in order to meet the country's pledged climate goals. Another 26 coal mines are planned.
[photo courtesy: GBR Marine Reef Park Authority]Environment minister Tanya Plibersek, said that the mine would pollute groundwater and freshwater creeks that run into the reef and seagrass meadows that feed dugongs and provide habitat for breeding fish. She is the first minister to use powers to block projects under Australia's 22 year-old Environmental and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Central Queensland Coal project would have consisted of two open pit mines yielding 10 million metric tons of coal a year for twenty years or more. Conservationists hailed the decision.Australians expressed their opposition to the project from the outset. The federal government received 9,000 submissions in ten business days, the majority of which were against the project.
