‘Mockery’: Turnbull government quietly cuts Adani's Abbot Point turtle controls

The Turnbull government has quietly axed eight environmental conditions aimed at protecting vulnerable turtle species set to be affected by Adani's proposed $3 billion coal terminal expansion at Abbot Point in Queensland.

Abbot Point's proposed terminal 0 in Queensland
would serve the company's giant Carmichael mine
if it gets built. 

The move by the Environment Department, signed by minister Josh Frydenberg on May 10, also modified a ninth condition that required the Indian-owned miner spend $450,000 annually to implement a marine offsets strategy. Those funds will now go to the Reef Trust, possibly from a later date. 

"The beaches at Abbot Point are important nesting sites for flatback turtles and the region is a high priority foraging habitat for green turtles," said Imogen Zethoven, a campaign director for the Australian Marine Conservation Society. "Both of these species are listed as vulnerable under federal and Queensland law.”

Abbot Point's environment record was already under a cloud after coal sediment entered a nearby wetland and the company may have breached its temporarily elevated pollution limits during Cyclone Debbie in March.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “‘Mockery’: Turnbull government quietly cuts Adani's Abbot Point turtle controls.”