PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has labelled the latest environmental resistance against the $16.5-billion Carmichael coal project, in Queensland, as “futile and cynical attention seeking”.

The MCA was responding to an announcement by former Greens party leader Bob Brown, in which he said he will launch an alliance of 13 environmental groups opposed to the multibillion-dollar project, being developed by Indian major Adani.

The alliance will included the Bob Brown Foundation, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Get Up and the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

The Stop Adani Alliance will reportedly lobby against the development of the coal mine, with Brown citing polling that showed three-quarters of Australians were opposed to Adani’s plan to tap a A$900-million government subsidy to help fund infrastructure to connect the mine.

“The Carmichael coal mine project is going to proceed. That is a good thing for Central and Northern Queensland as well as the broader national economy. It is also very good news for tens of millions of people in India who will have access to energy for the first time as a result of the project,” MCA CEO Brendan Pearson said.

He noted that statistics have highlighted the contribution that the Carmichael mine will make to the quality of life for citizens in India, adding that the individual members of the Stop Adani Alliance use 13 times more electricity than the average Indian citizen.

“Put another way, in an average year, the individual members of the Stop Adani Alliance use more electricity before the end of January than an average Indian citizen will use in a year.

“The comparison is even starker when made with Indian regions where electricity needs are most acute,” Pearson said.

He noted comments made by Brown in an interview with ABC Radio, in which he said that Indian citizens without electricity should be forced to rely on renewables like solar energy, calling it a “cruel hoax”.

“Given that renewables currently provide about 5% of India’s electricity needs that solution would mean hundreds of millions more Indians without access to any electricity.

“ . . . lack of access to electricity means poor health and sanitation outcomes, limited basic household amenities, and the need to rely on solid fuels for cooking – fuels which emit noxious fumes with major adverse health and environmental impacts.”

The proposed Carmichael project will comprise an opencut and underground mine, running for a period of 90 years and producing an average 60-million tonnes a year of thermal coal.