Antinuclear

The ABC this week became the first media organisation to visit the remote springs complex — one of the world’s last unspoiled desert oases — which are at the centre of a controversial Morrison Government decision that thrust Adani forward as a federal election issue.

The trip to the nationally important wetlands was at the invitation of a determined group of mine opponents within the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) people, who have vowed to take their fight all the way to The Hague.

The Doongmabulla, which means “the place of many waters”, represents the key hurdles to Adani’s mining ambitions in a project already four years overdue.

The miner still has to prove to the Queensland Government it can safeguard the springs, which are also the key cultural concern for traditional mine site owners who could further put the brakes on Adani by taking them to the High Court.

Scientists dispute Adani’s mine impact modelling

Commonwealth science agencies have raised doubts about Adani’s modelling of the mine’s impact on the springs, saying it could drain its underground water source by four times its legal limit.

But Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price approved Adani’s groundwater plans after it agreed to extra monitoring and safeguards and amid pressure from Queensland colleagues to sign off before the election was called.

However, concerns raised in a joint report by the CSIRO and Geosciences Australia are being assessed by the Queensland environment department, which said it could not let the mine proceed until Adani provided better evidence about the sources of the springs…….. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-01/adani-coal-mine-poses-alarming-risk-to-sacred-wetlands/11058854