I received this from Lock The Gate.
Dear Tom,
I’m a grazier from Central Queensland, and I’ve just found out that the Australian government is playing Russian roulette with the Indian billionaire, Adani, and our water.
Secret documents obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) has revealed our worst fears: that crucial advice about the impacts of the Adani mine on river water have been ignored*.
The documents obtained by Lock the Gate show that the Department of Agriculture and Water warned about significant risks to our water resources from Adani plans to take 12.5 billion litres of river water each year.
Every day that this drought grinds on hardens my resolve to fight for our water.
As I watch my western Queensland soil crack open and my grasses perish I realise we must prioritise food production over washing coal for export.
Adani wants to take the equivalent of approximately 5,000 Olympic swimming pools of river water each year to run their risky mega-mine.
But the Federal Government has given them the green light to bypass the water trigger and avoid key environmental impact assessments for their impacts on the river system.
If advice from the Dept of Ag had been followed, there should have been a full environmental assessment and independent review.
Another department, Geoscience Australia, also found problems stating that Adani had missed important mapping of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems.
So that’s two government agencies who have shown just how weak and shoddy Adani’s proposals are, but so far government decision makers are ignoring them.
Together, we need to keep piling on the pressure, exposing the secret deals happening behind closed doors, and commissioning research that reveals the true impacts of this project.
It’s not just the Suttor River at risk, Adani’s megamine also threatens recharge aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin.
We absolutely rely on these water resources in central and western Queensland. We can’t survive without them.
We can’t afford to let Adani risk it all. In a drying climate we need the strictest controls possible on mining, to allow our rural industries and towns to survive.
Warm regards,
Bruce Currie