Indian mining giant Adani is seeking to dodge federal scrutiny of its plan to build a pipeline pumping billions of litres of water from a river in drought-stricken central Queensland to feed its Carmichael mega-mine.
The $16.5 billion Carmichael project would be Australia’s largest coal mine and would open Queensland’s Galilee Basin to further coal development.
Large coal mines require federal approval if they are likely to have a significant impact on a water resource.
This is known as the water trigger.
The documents show Adani claims the water trigger applies only to water used in the extraction of coal, and the pipeline plan is not captured because the water to be pumped “is not part of the extraction process”.
However, in its plan Adani subsequently justifies the need for the pipeline, saying “water is a major component in the production of coal for the operational phase of mining”.
“The more I look at this [Carmichael] project and the way the company has dealt with different layers of government the more sceptical I have become.” BESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswyBESbswy The Carmichael mine is likely to feature prominently in the next federal election campaign and the mine’s opponents have called on Labor to use Commonwealth powers to scupper the project should it win government.
An Adani Australia spokeswoman said the pipeline referral to the federal government "relates only to the construction of this infrastructure" and water use is already approved.
She said the company was "committed to protecting the environment" during construction of the pipeline.
“Adani is apparently trying to sneak through approval for a massive water scheme without a full environmental assessment … in our view that’s an activity which is absolutely required to go through the water trigger,” she said.