Adani mine gets final environmental approval for Carmichael mine

Adani has passed its final environmental approval and can now begin work on its Carmichael mine in Central Queensland after nearly nine years of planning, fierce protests and endless political debate.

Adani Australia CEO Lucas Dow
previously said they were ready to
 begin work as soon as the approval
was given.

Queensland's Environment Department this afternoon approved the mine's groundwater management plan, with construction at the Galilee Basin to ramp up over the coming weeks.

Over the past 18 months Adani had produced about a dozen versions of its groundwater management plan. Previous attempts failed to meet key environmental requirements, including a plan to avoid destroying one of the world's last unspoiled desert oases, the Doongmabulla Springs Complex.

Read the story from ABC News by Josh Bavas - “Adani mine gets final environmental approval for Carmichael mine.”

(It was climate emergency campaigner, Phillip Sutton, who told "Climate Conversations" that Australia, and the world, has no chance of, meeting its Paris commitments before even a shovel full of coal had been dug out of the Adani mine - Robert McLean)

Queensland farmers rally against laws to curb land clearing

The Queensland government is expected to pass new land-clearing laws on Tuesday amid fierce protests by farmers on the steps of the state parliament.

 One Nation senator Pauline Hanson, right, joins protesters
 against Queensland’s new land-clearing laws. 

The laws are an attempt to rein in soaring clearing rates and restore environmental protections that were scrapped in 2013. The Climate Council estimates bushland more than seven times the size of Brisbane – about 1m hectares – was cleared between 2012 and 2016.

About 500 farmers from across the state, wearing green shirts and waving signs that proclaimed them the “true environmentalists”, demonstrated on the grounds that the changes will harm the state’s agricultural sector. They didn’t miss the opportunity to point out that city dwellers’ smashed avocado and soy lattes were, in many cases, products of Queensland farming.

Read Ben Smee’s story from The Guardian - “Queensland farmers rally against laws to curb land clearing.”