The planned expansion of Australia's Abbot Point and Hay Point coal ports over the next few years will have little impact on the environment including the Great Barrier Reef, a study sponsored by the industry showed Wednesday.
The study was commissioned by BHP Billiton, GVK Hancock and Adani, which are seeking to expand the two export ports to accommodate the growing thermal coal production in eastern Australia.
Abbot Point is the most northerly deepwater coal port of Australia. BHP Billiton and GVK have already obtained permission to each build a coal terminal of 30-60 million mt/year at the port, which will take its capacity to 110-170 million mt/year when completed.
Adani which acquired a 99-year lease on the existing 50 million mt/year terminal at Abbot Point is also looking to build another terminal at the port, but has yet to specify its capacity.
Meanwhile, Hay Point is one of the largest coal ports in northeastern Australia and is owned by BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi. Plans to expand the port would bring its capacity to 180 million mt/year from the current 150 million mt/year.
The study found that the overall environmental impact of the terminals' expansion would be minimal and it offered a number of remedial actions in areas where the impact will be noticeable. It also said the forecast increase in shipping would pose no substantive risk to the Great Barrier Reef.
"It is unlikely the marine environment and marine fauna species will be significantly impacted by the Abbot Point project," the study concluded.
It said a number of species on land, such as the Painted Snipe or the Great Egret, would be impacted by the terminals, but proposed mitigating measures, including erosion and sediment control.
"Alarmist predictions by environmental activists of more than 11,000 coal ships travelling through the Great Barrier Reef area by 2020 have been put to rest by [the] report," the Queensland Resources Council, which represents large coal producers in Australia such as BHP Billiton, said in a statement.
It said the study showed that even when optimistic forecasts from all coal port operators are tallied, the number of coal ships in the area would be around 4,200 by 2020, or just 37% of the Greenpeace claim.
Environmental groups including Greenpeace have long argued that the planned expansion would endanger the Great Barrier Reef.
In response to the study, Greenpeace said: "The assessment, produced for the companies building the coal terminals, does not deny that the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area will be impacted by their developments, but claims that the impact on marine turtles, humpback whales, threatened species and an internationally significant wetland can be 'managed'.
"Australia is dismantling an outstanding natural masterpiece at the behest of the coal industry, and it has to stop."
