A huge liquefied natural gas export terminal is being planned for Abbot Point on the Queensland coast, coming just months after the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority approved plans to dump 3 million tonnes of dredge spoil in the sensitive region as part of coal export expansion.
Hong Kong-based Energy World Corporation has submitted plans to pipe gas 1000 kilometres from the Cooper Basin to Abbot Point, and then export as much as 2 million tonnes of LNG per year to Asia, according to documents posted on the federal environment ministry’s website.
The so-called CAPLNG facility would require dredging as at least 500,000 cubic metres of material and dump it on land. The Australian Marine Conservation Society estimates the dredging would amount to about 800,000 tonnes.
“This is out of the blue,” said Felicity Wishart, a campaign director for the society. “The dredging itself is very damaging to the marine environment,” she said, adding that shifting it on land may also impact local wetlands or other regions where it is dumped.
The park authority’s approval in February of the coal terminal expansion plan for Abbot Point raised concerns about the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. The 3 million tonnes dredge spoil will be dumped within the marine park, while the leap in coal shipments – assuming the mines planned for the Galilee Basin proceed – will increase shipping traffic along the reef.
An LNG facility would now bring even larger ships into the area, Ms Wishart said. “It’s very concerning. The government is not sending the right signals - the community wants a better outcome for the reef,” she said.
Fairfax has sought comment from Environment Minister Greg Hunt.
The Energy World proposal is currently listed as a “Referral detail” under the commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. A referral is needed if a project is likely to have a significant impact including on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, or World Heritage Properties – both of which apply for CAPLNG.
A meeting of the World Heritage Committee overseeing such sites is scheduled for Doha, Qatar, in June. The standing of the Great Barrier Reef may officially be placed on the “in danger” list, although a formal decision may not be made until 2015, Ms Wishart said.
