Nine peaceful protestors charged up to $8,000 each for blocking coal exports from Adani’s Abbot point coal terminal for a total of 14 hours in January 2018, have expressed great relief that their fines have been substantially reduced on appeal to Bowen District Court.
The original fines totalled $72,000 compared to Adani’s $12,000 fine for exceeding their licensed release of polluted water into the Caley Valley Wetlands during cyclone Debbie said one of the activists Ella Skerret.
Threat to Paris agreement
‘Burning the Galilee Basin’s coal will make limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, as agreed at Paris, an impossibility,’ said Liisa Rusanen, one of the nine activists.
The activists’ fines have been reduced to between $2,000 to $3,000 each.
Nic Avery, another of the nine activists pointed out that ‘In confronting the climate emergency, of course we need to phase out coal and other fossil fuels. We also need to stop billion-dollar corporations from dictating government policy. The destruction of the environment has deep roots in the current political system and our future depends on facing this.
