Mining as Ecocide: The Case of Adani and the Carmichael Mine in Australia
Large industrial coal mining projects result in considerable environmental and social harms. Yet these projects and the states and corporations that approve them are rarely referred to as “criminal.” A recent example is the Adani Group’s proposed Carmicha
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Introduction In 2010, the Adani Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate, purchased the Galilee coal tenement in Queensland, Australia from Linc Energy for AUD 500 million in cash, plus a royalty of AUD 2 per ton over 20 production years (Linc Energy, 2010). One year later, Adani Group leased Terminal 1 (T1) of Abbot Point, Australia’s northernmost deep-water coal port, for 99 years on 1 June 2011 (North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation, 2016). The deal, signed by the Queensland Government and Mundra Port Pty Ltd (the Australian subsidiary of Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd and a part of the Adani Group), cost approximately AUD 1.8 billion and was a part of the Queensland Government’s privatization of government-owned assets that began in 2009 under Premier Anna Bligh (Tan, 2012; The State of Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet, 2009). O. Hasler (B) University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2020 Y. Zabyelina and D. van Uhm (eds.), Illegal Mining, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46327-4_18
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The purchase of the Galilee coal tenement from Linc Energy and the Abbott Point port terminal from the Queensland Government allowed for the possibility for Adani Group to set up a large-scale coal mining operation. In 2010, Adani Mining, a subsidiary of Adani Group, submitted a proposal for the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project (“The Carmichael Project”) in Queensland. The Initial Advice Statement (IAS) on the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project was released by Adani Mining Limited that year as a requirement under Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999 (EBPC). The IAS provides the Queensland Coordinator General with information about the proposed mining plan so that a decision could be made as to whether the project should be classified as a “significant project.” Under the 1971 State Development and Public Works Organization Act of Queensland (SDPWOA), any development given the “significant project” label requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Coordinator General took nine main issues into consideration during his evaluation of the EIS: 1. Matters of national environmental significance (threatened species, threatened communities, Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, wetlands of international importance, groundwater, surface water); 2. Matters of state environmental significance (flora and fauna, Bygana West Nature Refuge, offsets); 3. Mine issues (subsidence, mine waste, rehabilitation, and final land use); 4. Landholder impacts; 5. Flooding from the rail line; 6. Coal dust management; 7. Road impacts; 8. Social and local economic impacts; and 9. Environmental management plans, proponent commitments, and conditions (The State of Queensland, 2014). In 2014, the Queensland Coordinator General concluded the environmental impact assessment requirements of the SDPWO Act for the
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Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail project have
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