‘Barbaric': Farmers rattled as Adani coal mine granted unlimited water access

The proposed Adani coal mine has been granted unlimited access to groundwater by the Queensland government in a move farmers fear would allow it to drain huge amounts of water from the Great Artesian Basin.

Adani's giant coal mine in the Galilee
 Basin aims to export mainly to India. 

According to a copy of Adani's water licence obtained by Fairfax Media, the $16 billion Carmichael mine merely needs to monitor and report the amount of water it extracts with a permit that runs until 2077.

The mine, the biggest of nine proposed for the Galilee Basin west of Rockhampton, can conduct its own review of its groundwater model without independent or government oversight. 

There are also no impact levels specified that would trigger a halt to mining, with the company able to offset any significant water loss elsewhere, the licence shows.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in The Sydney Morning Herald - “‘Barbaric': Farmers rattled as Adani coal mine granted unlimited water access.”

(Groundwater is ancient and finite and so it is blatantly irresponsible to hand such an open ended licence to access and use this valuable resource to an Indian company that has altruistic interest in the longterm welfare of the Australian community. It’s time Turnbull and his coalition cohort stepped up and stopped this frivolous waste of our rarest commodity - Robert McLean)