Thanks to hundreds of people attending rallies, thousands writing letters and signing petitions and experts sounding the alarm about this project, the Federal Environment Minister has proposed to reject Clive Palmer's Central Queensland Coal Mine just 10km from the Great Barrier Reef.
To make an official comment on the Minister’s proposed decision to reject the mine we need to fill out the form on the federal government’s website. Here's how to do it:
Click on the button below to go to the comment portal.
1. You will need to provide a title for your comment such as "Reject CQC Mine"
2. Enter your full name and email adress in the boxes provided
3. Copy and paste the example text below into the "comment" field or write your own comment.
Deadline for public comment is 4pm, 18th August.
Below are points you may like to make in your comment. The most important point is to say you support the Minister’s decision to reject the mine!
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Dear Minister, I support your proposal to reject Clive Palmer’s proposed Central Queensland Coal mine (CQC). I support the rejection of this mine due to its impacts on Water Resources and the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Central Queensland Coal project would be located just 10 km from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and release pollutants and sediments into rivers and creeks that feed into the Reef. These pollutants would also potentially leach into the surrounding environment, including the reef, for decades to come. If built, the CQC project would cause groundwater drawdown below 165 ha of ecosystems that are dependent on groundwater for survival. It would also drain groundwater used by surrounding farms. Through groundwater drawdown, the CQC project would drain creeks including permanent waterholes - some by up to 60m. The pollutants and sediments would make their way onto key turtle and dugong feeding beds which could be smothered by fine sediments. In January 2021 your own independent scientific experts warned the CQC project could cause “significant and irreversible damage” to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area I also support the rejection of this project due to its impact on climate change and threatened species. The International Energy Agency said in its ‘Net Zero by 2050’ report that no new coal projects should be approved after 2021 for the world to meet emissions reduction targets. Therefore any new mine approved is adding to catastrophic climate impacts that exacerbate bushfires, droughts, heatwaves, floods, storms and coral bleaching that impact people but also many Matters of National Environmental Significance such as threatened species and world heritage areas. Koalas and greater gliders have both recently been listed as endangered in Queensland and are present on the CQC project site. Rejection of the project would protect this important habitat for these and other threatened species. I thank you for listening to expert advice and proposing to reject this project. |