Exclusive: environmental group calls plan to protect black-throated finch an ‘elaborate hoax’
Sat 29 Dec 2018 19.00 GMTLast modified on Sun 30 Dec 2018 11.43 GMT
Adani has set aside a “conservation area” for the endangered black-throated finch at the same site earmarked for the massive Clive Palmer-backed Alpha North coalmine.
The environmental group Lock the Gate said the land-use conflict meant the Adani plan to protect the black-throated finch – which is one of two crucial management plans for the Carmichael mine yet to be approved by the Queensland government – amounted to an “elaborate hoax”.
But Adani’s response suggested the Indian company could seek to block elements of the neighbouring Alpha North coalmine, or prompt a court battle, to safeguard its own project.
“We will not allow the conservation area for the black-throated finch to be compromised,” Adani said in a statement to Guardian Australia.
Adani owns the relevant pastoral land – effectively the property at surface level. Palmer’s Waratah Coal has several exploration permits for the coal resource underneath, and has applied for a mining lease.
The Waratah Coal plan for Alpha North includes a series of open-cut and underground mines, planned to produce 80m tonnes of coal a year from two separate areas. A 20,000ha section Adani plans to use for a conservation area roughly corresponds to Alpha North plans for four longwall underground mines.
In applications, Waratah Coal has acknowledged that Alpha North could cause subsidence, and could affect black-throated finch habitat and watercourses.
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