Adani port overflows flood waters into Bowen wetlands
Torrential rain in North Queensland has forced floodwaters to overflow from the Abbot Point Port overnight into the 5000-hectare Caley Valley Wetlands near the port in Bowen.
Bowen's Abbot Point Port was closed earlier this week because of the rain, with the region receiving more than 700mm in the past week.
Staff returned to the port on Thursday morning to find the port had overflowed into the adjacent wetlands.
The volume of floodwater flowing into the wetlands is now being assessed.
The nearby wetlands is an important coastal conservation region and an important home to many wading birds, swans, sea eagles and wildflowers.
The potential environmental threat comes from coal "fines" - small coal particles - which are in the Abbott Point port waters and may have been washed into the wetlands.
The concentration of coal fines that have been washed in to the 5000-hectare wetlands with the floodwaters is now being assessed by Queensland's Environment Department.
The company believes the potential risk is low because the large volume of water would dilute the coal fines; however, this is now being investigated.
Adani Mining issued a statement on Thursday afternoon to say the heavy rainfall had forced flood waters into the coastal wetlands.
This was discovered after an on-site inspection on Thursday afternoon.
"The inspection indicates there has been no release of waters into the marine environment or the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park," the statement reads.
"However, flood water has been released to the Caley Valley wetlands from an authorised release point," it says.
Adani is allowed under strict conditions to release water from its port into the wetlands, as a condition of its environmental authority to run the Abbot Point Port.
The flood waters entering the Caley Valley Wetlands has been reported to Queensland's Department of Environment and Science, Adani's port operator said.
"Abbot Point Operations promptly reported these preliminary inspection findings to the
Department of Environment and Science," the statement says.
"Abbot Point Operations will continue to monitor the releases and keep the Department
informed, and is confident that no environmental harm has or will occur."
The North Queensland region has been inundated for the past week and has received more than 900mm of rain since December 2018.
In 2017 Adani Mining was fined $12,190 for releasing floodwater containing sediments from the port in the Caley Valley Wetlands during Tropical Cyclone Debbie.
On Thursday, Adani Mining said the company had since spent $15 million to improve stormwater management at the Abbot Point port.
"Since 2017, Abbot Point Operations has implemented a number of measures to improve environmental management, including the commencement of a three-year program to facilitate continuous water infrastructure upgrades," it said.
"An initial $15 million investment project is currently under way and a total program is forecasted
cost up to $50 million."