@vicr3000 wrote:
Queensland's new state government on Wednesday cleared plans by two Indian companies to expand a port for coal projects that are opposed by green groups worried about pollution and damage to the Great Barrier Reef.
If you read past the headlines, you may find this:
The port expansion was to have involved dumping 3 million cubic metres of soil dredged at the port of Abbot Point into the sea about 25 km from the Great Barrier Reef.
However, the Australian government moved earlier this year to ban all dredge dumping in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park amid concern that UNESCO's World Heritage Committee may label the reef "in danger" this year. The government said all Abbot Point dredge spoil should be dumped on land.
An alternative land dumping proposal near wetlands was rejected by the new Labor government. Instead it has approved plans to dump the dredge spoil at the port itself, on a site slated for another coal terminal that has been shelved.
