Another nail in the Great Barrier Reefs coffin?

Today the Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has approved the dumping of 3 million cubic meters of dredge spoil into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP)

For those of you who are not aware of this story it revolves around the approval of construction of additional port facilities at Abbot Point in Queensland. Specifically this development is for the purposes of exporting coal. The following is written pre-approval as at this moment the story has not hit the interweb.

Story Pre-Approval Here

I would like to note that I am in no way a foaming at the mouth Greenie, however, there are for time to time events such as this that really give me the sh!ts. Regardless of what the “scientific” research predicts, it should be clear that there is no way of knowing what the impact of such an endeavour will be. On face value it’s difficult to see that it will have little to no impact as there is sufficient empirical data to show that dumping stuff in the sea and or rivers really is a stupid idea.

The following story is from a similar project approximately 1,200 kilometres to the south of Abbot Point

This did not work - alothough it was meant to be a good idea

The following reeks of more stupidity

More apparent stupidity

The simple facts, to me at least, are that there really needs to some kind of hierarchy of control with respect to approval of developments of this nature. Indeed any reasonable engineering alternatives should be adopted that have easily determinable outcomes, any other approach would surely indicate ignorance, laziness or stupidity or perhaps a combination of all three. On the other hand it may well just be pure greed.

This was probably a better idea

Other stresses on the Great Barrier Reef that you may not be aware of.

Muddy Waters, Herbicides & Pesticides

Bath Water

I'd say it's likely that drilling for oil in the GBRMP is just around the corner.

Kind Regards
Myselfaswell

Base on global trends in the Oil & Gas sector, it is with a great sadness that I have come to the conclusion that offshore drilling will eventuate in the Great Barrier Reef marine park.

The only thing that can stop the global Oil & Gas Behemoth is a new form of renewal energy that does not rely of fossil fuels.

I just hope we find a new energy source before they rape the Barrier Reef.

NB: I work in the Marine sector of Oil & Gas Industry.

reply to post by myselfaswell


It could very well be the final nail in the coffin, considering there are two other proposed coal ports, and there could be more that I'm not aware of.

But that's progress for you, when you are earning 90K a year in the mines, you don't care about the environment, You wave your fistful of dollars in the air and shout "Yay, mining boom!".

But it's not the employees fault, the lure of the money will always trump the environment. However these coal port and dredgings won't only effect the environment, they'll effect the economy as well. Fisherman have already been put out of business because of the contaminants found in an around harbors, and these other proposals will sound the death knell for hundreds if not thousands of fisherman, not to mention the tourist industry.

If magnates like Xstrata and Rio Tinto put their minds together they could fund an alternate energy revolution, But that will never happen.

eARTHS BEAUTIFULL ASSESTS ARE LEAVING US DUE TO OUR INABILITY FOR US TO PROTECT HER FROM bIG gREEDY BUSINESS WHO WANTS IT ALL AND A BARREN DESOLATE ;LANDSCAPE , SEASCAPE FULL OF ARTIFICAL BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES .

I am not surprised our Liberal government supports such a port expansion, but am some what curious as to just how much political pressure has been applied to the Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to give their approval. Brisbane which is the closest major city a bit further south use to have great sandy beaches until dredging of its river took place. It did open up the port to an international standard, but left a lot of Morten bay with mud flats. Now you need to go about 80km away from this dredging area to get back to good quality beaches.

From God on facebook:

Aww, What the hell mortals!
It took Me literally thousands of years to create the Great Barrier Reef and this Greg Hunt MP politician clown gave approval to dump 3 million cubic metres of spoil into it. Looks like another flood is in order.

Nothing is sacred anymore.

As I stated in another thread regarding roundup, it just boggles my mind how stupid we really are. We are just going to continue to contaminate all of our waters.

Then, when everything is dead and dying, sit back and cry and ask, "What Happened? How could we have stopped this?"

But hey, as long as someone is making a buck, that is all that matters, right?

God fkn damn.

I wonder how many politicians got a nice pay day for this?!
All for corporate greed and profit.

And the Government is in wonderment as to what causes domestic terrorism.

This just shows that the Government will do what ever it pleases and there is nothing we citizens can do about it legally.
Hell, even those in positions of authority and power couldn't stop this legally.

Where to go from here fellow Aussies???

News like this makes my heart weigh heavy as lead.

I don't understand how an authority, whose only purpose in life is to protect and preserve TGBR, just goes ahead gives a nod of approval to one of the most destructive and pollution-spewing industries on the planet. I expected the authority to do the job for which it was created and say a definite and un-negotiable 'no', I'm shocked this didn't happen. The authority is blatantly useless and not fit for purpose.

The greed of a few will cost us our planet and everything on it, there's obviously nothing and no-one to stop them from reducing our Earth to a barren place where nothing lives or grows any more.

I want to stop them, but I don't know how.

It appears the right people got their money and it distorted their judgment. What a disappointment!

doobydoll
The greed of a few will cost us our planet and everything on it, there's obviously nothing and no-one to stop them from reducing our Earth to a barren place where nothing lives or grows any more.

I want to stop them, but I don't know how.

The lesson of Rapa Nui, Easter Island is long forgotten.

If we do not change our ways the Earth will have the same fate. It is pathetic that short term profits cloud the long term effects of raping the Earth for her resources.