Portrait of Suzette Pelt

The Whitsunday Islands are bordered by the Great Barrier Reef. The region is one of the natural wonders of the world. Queensland Energy Resources Ltd (QERL) is proposing to mine the McFarlane oil shale deposit on the Goorganga Wetlands, just 10 kms from the pristine Great Barrier Reef. Such mining would have catastrophic impacts on the reef, consuming vast amounts of water, causing toxic leaching and creating air pollution from waste rock and water. Shale oil is one of the most environmentally damaging ways of fossil fuel extraction and is also a major climate changer. This project would create up to 40 million tonnes of greenhouse gases yearly. Along with the local threat of a shale oil mine, the Great Barrier Reef will suffer from remote emissions. A national shale oil industry would also be disastrous for local people and for the economy, as agriculture and tourism industries are already threatened by the impacts of climate change. Based on figures from The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) it is estimated by government, media and environmental activists that export coal expansion plans in Queensland would create additional global greenhouse pollution equal to 125% of Australia's total current emissions; or the same as the CO2 pollution from 65 average sized coal-fired power stations. Australia is considered by environmental activists as one of the world's highest per capital polluters and exports more CO2 than is emitted domestically. In 2006/7, Australia exported around 243 million tonnes (Mt), 30% of the world's total coal exports, equal to 656 Mt of CO2.