Adani Mining's Carmichael Coal Mine: Environmental Impact and Economic Benefits

Solution:
Introduction:
India’s Adani group owns a company called Adani Mining, which is the wholly owned
subsidiary of the group. Adani mining has plans of building one of the biggest coal
mines in the world. They have proposed Carmichael coal mine, which is a proposed
thermal coal mine in the north of the Galilee basin in Central Queensland, Australia.
Adani mining would be using both technologies, viz. open cut and underground
mining. The project Is being set up to provide power to 100 million people in India.
Queensland’s economy is driven primarily by services industry. Three fourth of the
workforce of Queensland is employed in services industries and this industry
accounts for two third of economic input.
In a publication
, The Australia Institute has given a statement, “The Mouse That
Roars: Coal in the Queensland economy”.1
As per the said publication and other publicly available data, coal industry accounts
for 4% of Queensland state government’s revenue.
Recommendations:
· Identify the revenue streams that the State and Federal Government would receive if the Adani
project is approved. Do you think there is a conflict of interest between income streams to the
government, and protecting the environment for future generations?
The project if implemented will become a source of additional revenue for the
government and as per the available information, “Over the life of the Project it is
projected that on average around 1,464 employee years of full time equivalent
direct and indirect jobs will be created”.
The government would be earning by way of various tax levies on the coal
extraction. And the taxes on the income that would be earned by Adani group would
be an additional income for the government. Since, there would be nominal
incremental infrastructure, that would be built by the government, specifically for
Adani group.
Further, government would be earning by way of taxes from individuals,
consultants, etc. who will get employment in relation to coal extraction plant of
Adani group.
In contrast to the revenue stream for the government and increasing employment
in the country, the Carmichael project would have numerous environmental
impacts:
• This will lead to industrialization of the Great Barrier Reef, which is considered
to be a World Heritage Area, as the shipping of coal would take place through
the barrier reef

• This would also lead to a massive new untapped therman coal basin, that
would open for the world
• Further, the project would involve a consumption of billions of liters of water,
that would also affect the agriculture
• This would lead to denial of human rights of traditional owners, who are
opposing the mining activity. The land that would be used for mining belongs
to the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners.
The above-mentioned impacts on the environment is important to take care of to
protect the environment for the future generations. Government does face a conflict
of interest between increasing revenue stream and protecting the environment for
the future generations (Ref: Roderick Campbell (2014). The mouse that roars: Coal
in the Queensland economy. Retrieved from: http://www.tai.org.au/content/mouse-
roars-coal-queensland-economy). (Accessed on 19 September, 2019).
1 The Mouse That Roars: Coal in the Queensland economy, publication issued in
October 2014.
Should the Australian government extinguish native title for the Adani coal mine?
In a quarrel between Adani group and land owners, which was based on the premise
that Adani group didn’t carry out sufficient efforts to find out the native owners of
the land. And the deals to acquire land were finalized amongst the people who
claimed to be the owners of such pieces of land, whereas in reality the land
belonged to someone else. Given the claims being made by the land owners,
Australian government should not extinguish native title for the Adani coal mine
(Ref: News Article (2018). Adani to self fund $2b Carmichael mine, construction to
start before Christmas. Retrieved from https://www.afr.com/news/politics/adani-to-
selffund-2b-carmichael-mine-construction-to-start-before-christmas-20181129-
h18i91. (Accessed on 19 September 2019).
There are plans to dump the sediment from the black coal on the doorstep of the great barrier
reef. Would you allow the project to continue in light of the environment impact statement?
Great barrier reef is considered as one of the seven wonders of the world, the
length of the reef is 1,400 miles along the coast of Queensland. The reef is so big in
size, that it an cover the area, as big as a country of Germany’s size.
Great barrier Reef has various extraordinary variety of living species. Such species
ranges from giant grouper to tiny eels, reef is also a home for sea cucumbers.
These creatures attract a thousands of visitors to the reef and also millions others
watch them over documentaries. Over and above the beauty that these creatures
bring in to the place, that attract visitors, so many species living together in the
sea, co-operating with each other , is a fascinating fact for the scientists, as
otherwise, sea is considered an unproductive space.
As per the said publication and other publicly available data, coal industry accounts
for 4% of Queensland state government’s revenue.

The contribution to carbon emissions, impact on Aboriginal people, and the impact of water
pollution on the Great Barrier Reef.
Setting up the coal mine would involve going, if not more, then atleast about 380 –
400 KMs inland, since, there is no adequate means of commuting to the place, it
would require setting up a dedicated rail corridor, the approvals for the same are
yet to be received, such train lines would be the only possible mode of
transportation of coal efficiently.
Coal once transported from the mine to the port, would be loaded on to ships at Hay
Point and Abbot Point, near Gladstone on the coast of Queensland.
Dredging and expansion exercise would need to be carried out on both ports, in
order to be able to manage volumes of shipping, post starting of operation of the
mine. After loading the Coal on to the Ship, it can then be safely transported to
India, through the coral labyrinth.
Coal so transported would then, in India be used for production of electricity, using
the thermal power plants. Project’s size and magnitude is so huge, that it is not a
India Australia deal, rather it is topuic of global significance.
India being a country of close to 125 Bn people has enormous demande for energy
and the same has been growing further, led by the growing industries in the
country, driven by various MNCs coming forward to set up industries in India, as the
county has availability of cheap labor and other resources, as compared to other
countries.
India’s appetite for energy grows and its inability to fulfil demand for energy from domestic
sources, causing Indian companies to look abroad to meet its requirements.
Country’s own resources are not sufficient enough to fulfil the energy demand of
the country. India thus looks outside the country for fulfilling its energy
requirements. As per the roadmap for 2022, released by Indian Government, the
target is to achieve 175 GW capacity in renewable energy, this would be
accomplished by 100 GW of solar power and 60 GW of wind power. Indian
Government is also trying to shift to 'rent a roof' policy for supporting its target,
under which, people would be given an option to rent their roofs to the government
of India, who could setup the solar power plant on the roofs of their houses and pay
the rent, as agreed.
In India, even till date, close to 70m rural households and 5.9m urban households
doesn’t have an access to power. The problem of electricity cannot be solved by
solely increasing the production of electricity, as it would also require efficient
transmission networks to be able to make the electricity available to the people in
the inner regions of the country.