Queensland environment department says it is considering action against mining giant with fines of up to $3.8m possible

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Adani faces a possible multimillion-dollar fine for environmental breaches over floodwaters released from its Queensland coal port after Cyclone Debbie.

The Queensland environment department said it would consider “compliance action” against Adani over discharges of water containing more than eight times the level of sediment allowed from Abbot Point terminal.

Under a four-day temporary emissions licence during and after the cyclone, Adani was authorised to release water containing up to 100mg of sediment per litre.

However, Adani’s own report to the department said on 30 March, the final day of its licence, it released water from the northern side of the port with 806mg per litre, the department’s director general, Jim Reeves, said.

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Reeves said the department would “consider appropriate action in response to this non-compliance in accordance with its enforcement guidelines”.

Reeves said the “serious penalties” for corporations causing environmental harm through licence breaches included fines of up to $3.8m for deliberate breaches and $2.7m for accidents.

Adani has rejected claims by conservationists that coal-laden water has contaminated the nearby Caley Valley wetlands and possibly coastal waters near the Great Barrier Reef marine park. But the department is yet to rule out the contamination, ahead of its own test results expected next week.

Conservation groups said the breach showed Adani could not be trusted to operate Australia’s largest coalmine for export through Abbot Point and called on the government to seek the maximum penalty.

Peter McCallum, of Mackay Conservation Group, claimed his visit with government scientists to the site last week showed it was “evident Adani had allowed coal to pollute the sensitive Caley Valley wetlands”.

“We visited the site with department officials, a good month after the cyclone, and it was clear there was still coal present in the wetlands,” he said.

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McCallum said sediments “which appear to be laden with coal have been identified within the Caley Valley wetlands adjacent to Adani’s stormwater system outlet”.

Imogen Zethoven, the campaign director for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said: “In the wetland, we saw what looks like coal sediment.”

Reeves said Adani, which was obliged to report “non-compliant” water releases, had told the department it “did not enter the Caley Valley wetland”.

Adani had advised that further investigations by port management showed “no coal-laden water entered any marine environment”, he said.

The department “nonetheless” took sand samples on the beach below to see if coal was present, with test results expected from next Monday, Reeves said.

It was also continuing to investigate possible environmental contamination from the port after aerial imagery from the State Disaster Coordination Centre on 6 April suggested sediment-laden water was flowing from the port into the wetland.

The Queensland Resources Council’s chief executive, the former federal government minister Ian Macfarlane, has accused media of “fake news” by reporting contamination claims by conservationists.

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Adani has previously said it believed it acted within its licence.

Tim Seelig, of the Queensland Conservation Council, said it was “a deeply troubling situation, which requires a full explanation and enforcement action”.

“For the Adani Abbot Point bulk coal facility itself to fess up to releasing heavily sediment-contaminated water shows how serious the matter is,” he said. “What we need to know is where did it go and was it released into the marine environment?”

Zethoven said an “urgent independent and transparent investigation into Adani’s coal discharge is critical”.

Reeves said: “I want to assure all Queenslanders that as the environmental regulator EHP takes these matters very seriously.

“EHP will prepare a full report on its investigations, which will provide the basis for decisions on what, if any, compliance action will occur.”

An Adani spokesman was contacted for comment.