Aus govt directs Adani to prepare EIS for rail project

In a recent decision the Australian government has directed Adani Mining Pty Ltd, the mining arm of Ahmedabad-based Adani Group in Australia, to prepare an Environment Impact Statement (EIS) for its North Galilee Basin Rail Project connecting Port of Abbot Point and Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.

Adani Mining Pty Ltd had in May proposed to develop railway comprising approximately 300 km of greenfield standard gauge rail and associated infrastructure in the North Galilee Basin Rail (the NGBR Project).

The NGBR Project will connect Adani’s proposed Carmichael Mine and Rail Project’s rail infrastructure directly to the Port of Abbot Point. The project proposes to facilitate the movement of coal directly to the Port of Abbot Point from the coal mines.

"The development of the proposed NGBR Project will provide a much awaited transport solution to the vast thermal coal reserve in Galilee Basin and shall open a gateway to the development of Queensland’s economy via the export of vast volumes of thermal coal through the Port of Abbot Point," the company had said in its proposal to Government of Australia's, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Population and Communities.

Based on the proposal, the Australian government recently decided, "The project will require assessment and approval under the EPBC Act (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999) before it can proceed." And held that for assessment of the project "Environment Impact Statement" would be required. The decision was taken as per the section 87 of the EPBC Act.

The EIS will have to address aspects of the project which relate to six controlling provisions namely world heritage properties, national heritage places, listed threatened species and communities, listed migratory species, common wealth marine areas and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Meanwhile, Adani's Abbot Point Terminal Pty Ltd has finalised the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Abbot Point Coal Terminal project. The project will provide new coal export facilities for the receiving, stockpiling and export of up to 70 million tonnes per annum of coal.

The draft EIS for the project was kept open for comments from February to April, 2013. Subsequent to this the EIS was finalised taking into account comments received during the set period and a final EIS was submitted with the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Population and Communities.