Report puts lie to green scare tactics

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney today welcomed the release of the Abbot Point Cumulative Impact Assessment by North Queensland Bulk Ports, which draws a line through an environmental scare campaign run by Labor and the Greens. 

The assessment was a proactive study undertaken for the proponents of future port expansion and looked at the possible impacts of development across the marine and terrestrial environments involving 16 separate environmental studies. 

It found that proposed port expansion was unlikely to affect the integrity of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. 

Mr Seeney said the assessment showed that well-managed development could co-exist with a healthy environment. 

“It illustrates that we can have bulk export ports and they can operate with no threat to the Great Barrier Reef,” Mr Seeney said. 

“This assessment should put an end to the scare campaigns run by extremist groups whose real agenda is to shut the coal ports and the coal industry as a whole. 

“Too often they cry wolf, claiming that any proposed new development will wipe-out entire marine or terrestrial species and threaten the existence of the reef itself. 

“This report puts the lie to those claims. 

“In the case of Abbot Point it says that impacts on the marine environment are manageable, that significant impacts on the terrestrial environment are unlikely and that mitigation and management measures would substantially reduce any potential impacts. 

Mr Seeney said the assessment had been peer reviewed by leading scientists and experts, leaving no room for extremists to distort its findings. 

“It highlights that we can have both economic development while protecting the environment because we will insist on world’s best practices and world’s best standards,” he said. 

[ENDS] 24 October 2012

Media Contact: John Wiseman – 0409 791 281