Adani's Unethical Release of Contaminated Water to the Great Barrier Reef

This article discusses Adani's attempt to conceal information about the risk of pollution to the Great Barrier Reef and argues that it is highly unethical. It provides evidence of Adani's unethical practices, including violating pollution licenses and unlawfully clearing vegetation. The article concludes that Adani cannot be trusted due to its past record of damaging the environment.

Running head: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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1CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Introduction
Adani has been attempting to conceal details of information provided to the Queensland
government regarding the risk of pollution to the Great Barrier Reef ahead of cyclone Debbie in
2017 (Slezak 2018). The thesis statement of the paper is, “Adani’s release of contaminated water
to the Great Barrier Reef is highly unethical.”
Discussion
Reports of Horn (2019) have revealed that several documents and series of emails
gathered through self regulating information loss have shed light on certain unethical approaches
taken by Adani. They have further reported that Adani along with the Queensland government
where are already aware of the consequences of pollution which would violate the regulation
(Envirojustice.org.au 2019). According to Berrill (2016), the details of information have been
revealed in an exchange over Adani's temporary pollution licence which have initiated in the first
half of 2017. Slezak (2018) has shed light on the unethical approach of Adani, which has been
attempting to initiate a temporary licence to pollute wetlands surrounding its coal export terminal
at Abbot Point which is near Bowen with coal laden water.
However it is important to mention that Adani had previously gathered information that
substantial amount of rain into its storage pools would have the propensity to overflow on two
vital wetlands to the site (Lewis and Lewis 2017). Thus, drawing relevance from the above
evidences Demetrious (2017) has noted that Adani due to its past record would lose the trust of
its clients regarding its role and contribution towards the community all the environment
(Marineconservation.org.au 2019). Several evidences can be put forward to strengthen the claim
whereby it can be noted that Adani previously has violated pollution licence by 800% does

2CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
permitting contaminated environment risky groundwater water to spawn out of its Abbot point
coal terminal and into the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area. Furthermore the company has
previously been accused of unlawfully initiating work at the Carmichael mine site (Kourafalou et
al. 2015). Reports of Horn (2019) have revealed that Adani unlawfully and unethically has
cleared swaps of vegetation along with drilled balls into aquifers of the great artesian basin by
posing threats to groundwater. For these reasons the company in recent times has been
investigated by the Queensland and Federal environment departments in order to evaluate their
actions and performance towards the environment and the community. On the other hand, Slezak
(2018) has mentioned that Adani showed immense incompetence to reveal to the Australian
government regarding the permission of toxic pollutants to flow into a major river which had
been initiated by Australians CEO, thus increasing the poison and pollutants level of local water
resources and for the impacting the agriculture resources. Moreover, reports of
Marineconservation.org.au (2019) have claimed that the concentration of coal dust, in the
distance to water has significantly exceeded the accepted levels by over 800%. Thus, it is highly
important for Adani to pay for its unethical practices for concealing the information and have
been undergoing critical legal procedure along with a compensation of over 2.5 million for
violating the temporary emissions licence (Climatecouncil.Org.Au 2019).
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, Adani cannot be trusted due to its past record as the company has
been intentionally managing its site in a way which would cause damage to the environment and
has been continuously overlooked by the Australian government.

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References
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