JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Federal environment Minister Greg Hunt has reportedly approved the development of the Terminal 0 (T0) project at the Abbot Point coal terminal, in Queensland.

The 70-million-tonne-a-year terminal project is being developed by Indian resource giant Adani in two 35-million-tonne-a-year stages.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) on Tuesday welcomed the development approval, saying Hunt had used the weight of scientific evidence to put Queenslanders ahead of increasingly hysterical environmental activists.

Hunt has also approved the A$15-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant being developed by Arrow Energy at Curtis Island.

The LNG plant gained state approval in September, and would produce up to 18-million tonnes of LNG a year through a staged development, with up to four trains being developed on the Curtis Island site.

Hunt reportedly said that the projects would meet “highest environmental standards and conditions”, placing 95 conditions on the Abbot Point projects and 53 conditions for the Curtis Island venture.

These include a 150% “net benefit requirement” for water quality, which Hunt said would result in a long-term reduction of sediments entering the reef marine park from land-based sources.

“The staged dredging of a commercial trading port 40 km from the Great Barrier Reef has been painted by fossil fuel opponents as the end of a global icon,” said QRC CEO Michael Roche.

He added that the Minister’s decision confirmed what the industry body had known for the past 38 years of industry coexistence with the reef.

“We have the wherewithal in Australia to protect world heritage and environmental values because we have a standard of living that affords us such choices. The trading ports working alongside the Great Barrier Reef are responsible for the export of commodities worth A$40-billion a year to the Australian economy.”

Roche warned that the alternative proposal from environmental activists is to shut down shipping along 80% of the eastern Queensland coastline, effectively hanging almost one-million people out to dry.

“The conditions set out today for both projects by Minister Hunt show the federal government is serious about protecting the outstanding universal values of the Great Barrier Reef and he can be assured of the continuing cooperation of industry stakeholders of meeting environmental and community expectations,” Roche said.