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Coal mine threat to Great Barrier Reef

The coal mine, owned by India's Adani Group, will cover an area of 200 sq km producing 60m tonnes of coal every year which will suffice the electricity needs of 100 million people.

This coal mine located in Queensland's Galilee Basin, about 400km inland from the reef, will need a major rail line, for transporting coal, which must then be loaded on to ships at the seaports of Hay Point and Abbot Point, close to Gladstone on the Queensland shore, neighboring the southern part of the reef.

The ships loaded with coal will be shipped carefully to India through the coral labyrinth that is the Great Barrier Reef, where it will be utilized by burning in huge coal-fired electricity plants.

The Great Barrier Reef covers 1,400 miles along Queensland's coast and is home to a diverse variety of living species ranging from huge grouper to small eels. The reef creatures even co-operate to produce clouds, by discharging cloud-seeding molecules into the atmosphere, thereby protecting the reef from ultraviolet radiation.

A study conducted in the year 2012 revealed that about half of the coral constituting the reef has already been killed by pesticide runoff, muddy deposit from land clearing, voracious starfish, coral bleaching and several other impacts.

The development of the coal mine will further add new pressures. First, dredging for the new ports will entail digging up 5m or more tonnes of mud, together with the toxins they consist of, which in turn will be transported and cast off into the middle of the reef area.

The raw coal itself is another toxin. Coal dust and coal fragments from stockpiles, conveyor belts and loaders pollute the waters of the reef.

The possibility of a coal ship running ashore on the reef can also not be ruled out. The area is littered with worn-out vessels, and with an upsurge in the number of voyages the probability of such accidents increases.

The reef will continue to be impacted even when the coal is shipped to India with carbon dioxide released from Indian smokestacks will have returned to the atmosphere over the reef. There it will pose two massive impacts, best seen as heat and acid.

The flourishing marine tourism generating revenues of 4 billion dollar every year will also be impacted adversely by this coal mine. It is the most profitable business in the Reef area.

Source: www.delhidailynews.com