Mining giant Adani's plan to build one of the largest coalmines in Australia suffered a major setback after a court revoked its environmental approval. The federal court found that Environment Minister Greg Hunt had not properly considered advice about two threatened species, the yakka skink and the ornamental snake, in the Galilee Basin project site before granting approval to the project. The $16.5 billion project was expected to produce 40 million tonnes of coal a year in its first phase.
In India, we lionise industrial tycoons and often tend to think that the likes of a secretive, burrowing yakka skink should not be allowed to hold up the forces of “development". While protesting the coalmine, Greenpeace stated that Adani has a “long history of environmental destruction", and highlighted issues including the destruction of mangroves and mudflats, soil degeneration and failure to regularly monitor groundwater for salinity and pollution. The further added, “The Great Barrier Reef is a world heritage area and we are about to place it in the hands of a company that hasn't behaved responsibly in India."
Adani, which recently suspended work in a number of areas on the mine as it awaits government approvals, attributed the ruling to a “technical legal error" and said it was confident the matter would be rectified. Gautam Adani reiterated his “commitment to protect the environment" by playing up his company's Clean Development Certification from the UNFCCC. The group claims that most of its non-compliances have negligible impact, and also touted the economic windfall the Carmichael project could bring.
Source: Firstpost
