Queensland announces cash grants for new gas exploration, new coal mine extension, to ramp up ocean warming destruction of Great Barrier Reef

Cash grants for gas exploration in Queensland announced by the Queensland Labor Government, Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment Cameron Dick, and Minister for Resources Scott Stewart.

"$21 million in funding is available through the Frontier Gas grants program for companies looking to explore and unlock new reserves in the Bowen and Galilee basins and bring Queensland gas to market sooner." said the media statement.

At the same time the Queensland Government granted a mining lease for Anglo American to expand its Lake Lindsay coal mine operation near Middlemount in the Bowen Basin. It will extend the life of the mine producing 5.6 million tonnes of coal and affects 500 jobs. But the loss of tens of thousands of Tourism and hospitality jobs oon the Great Barrier Reef? They are going.

New fossil fuel projects are at odds with climate science for meeting the Paris Climate Temperature Targets. The Queensland Government incentivising fossil fuel exploration and granting extended mining leases is adding to global warming that is cooking the planet, and warming oceans destroying the Great Barrier Reef. It is destroying long term jobs and biodiverrsity.

Coal mine expansion “secures 500 good jobs for Central Queensland”, while threatening 65,000 jobs in #GreatBarrierReef tourism. https://t.co/AHXmo8afIj

— Terry Hughes (@ProfTerryHughes) November 10, 2023

Submission on BHP Caval Ridge Mine Horse Pit Coal Extension in the Bowen Basin: an additional lifetime 440 megatonnes of CO2

Aerial view: existing Caval Ridge mine in the Bowen Basin, Queensland

Submissions for this coal mine extension closed 29 September 2023. The Labor Federal government has already approved 10 new coal or gas projects since coming to power in May 2022. The BHP Caval Ridge Mine Horse Pit Coal Extension is in the approval queue with about 100 other coal and gas projects. 

The Labor Government has promised a refresh of Australia's environmental laws in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC), but those reforms continue  to be deferred. During the Howard government in 2005 Anthony Albanese proposed a Climate Trigger be inserted in the EPBC Act. It failed of course. Labor did not revisit a Climate Trigger amnedment in 2007-2013 when in power with the Rudd and Gillard governments, and has not raised it as a priority in the current term of the Albanese Government.

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s proposes to extend the Caval Ridge Coal Mine and operate it for more than three decades, to 2056. The mine is located  approximately 5 km south west of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin, Queensland. It is an open cut mining operation that supplies hard coking coal product for the export market.

The Proposed Project will extend one of the two pits and will involve extraction and combustion of approximately 15 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of coal.

The proposal aims to commence in 2025 and extend to 2055. The mining schedule indicates extraction of approximately 158.3 million tonnes of coal over the life of the Proposed Project. The total combustion CO2 emissions for the product coal of the Proposed Project is estimated to be 440.64 million tonnes of CO2 added to the atmosphere that will exacerbate global warming.

My submission was one of 147 submissions co-ordinated by the Mackay Conservation Group.

Minister Plibersek and her department are now reviewing public comments about this proposal, alongside the large volume of scientific evidence that  Environment Council of Central Queensland Inc (ECoCeQ)  submitted with its reconsideration request.