The federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, confirms harbour had not been considered in the environmental impact statement for the terminal expansion

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The Abbot Point coal terminal may face a court challenge and a possible reassessment by the commonwealth after Greg Hunt admitted that the future development of a tugboat harbour at the site had not been considered in its environmental impact statement.

Abbot Point coal port expansion faces hurdle over 'secret' tugboat harbour Read more

Earlier this month, the North Queensland Conservation Council said it discovered plans by the mining company Adani, which leases the terminal, to build a tugboat harbour at Abbot Point near Bowen in north Queensland.

The Abbot Point expansion cleared a major hurdle by gaining commonwealth approval on Tuesday, on the condition that it complies with strict provisions relating to how and where dredge spoil can be dumped.

The plans to build a tugboat harbour were not part of the environmental impact statement (EIS) undertaken by the federal government and could mean that the entire project needs to be referred back to the commonwealth for reassessment.

“This question of the tugboat harbour was put forward by one of the environment groups. It was asserted as if it were a fact and that it could be slipped through without approval. That’s false,” the federal environment minister told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

“If such a proposal were put forward then it would have to be in accordance with state and federal law. And not to do so would in fact be an action that would be punishable under the federal law.”

A spokeswoman for Hunt confirmed to Guardian Australia that the tugboat harbour had not been included in the EIS.

“What was put in front of us, we assessed on the basis of law,” the spokeswoman said. “There is no such proposal from the Queensland government at this stage.”

Excluding the tugboat harbour could open the entire EIS up to a legal challenge, the Environmental Defenders Office in Queensland has warned.

“We will be looking very carefully at the lawfulness of the approval [granted by Hunt],” its chief executive officer and solicitor, Jo Braggs, told Guardian Australia.

Braggs said the tugboat harbour was consequential to the Abbot Point project and must be assessed alongside the expansion of the terminal, even though the harbour was not expected to be needed in the short term.

The possible legal challenge is not the only hurdle facing the expansion of the terminal, with Hunt confirming that the company would need to complete a dredge management plan before the project could proceed.

The expansion could yet hit financial snags too; the Queensland government has insisted Adani pay its own way.

“This is a private company, and the private company Adani must get the finance independently if it is to go ahead,” the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said. “There will be no taxpayers’ money going towards this project.”

The international credit agency Moody’s has threatened to downgrade the debit accrued by the Abbot Point coal terminal to junk status.

Moody’s analyst, Mary Anne Low, said “severe pressure” on the coal industry meant there was a higher probability that contracts would not be renewed or would end early.

Conservationists have criticised the expansion of the port, saying it would adversely affect the neighbouring Great Barrier Reef. Laws to stop dredge spoil from being dumped in the reef were recently enacted.

But the mining industry in Queensland said that the project, which would export coal extracted from the $16bn Carmichael coalmine if it goes ahead, would create much needed jobs in the state.

Queensland’s resources minister, Anthony Lynham, said fossil fuels still have a role to play.

“Coal is good, even as we move towards renewable energy,” he told Sky News on Tuesday. “We’ve struck the right balance between economic development and the environment.”