Aboriginal Australians consult First Nations on fighting mine
On Adrian Burragubba’s ancestral lands in Australia — arid pasture land, mountains, rivers and clear springs — the world’s second- largest coal mine would devastate the wildlife and the land, he says.
“We’re the messengers here to tell the world together we an stop this mine,” Burragubba said Wednesday.
Burragubba and Murrawah Johnson have come to Alberta to learn from Alberta First Nations who have struggled to protect land, wildlife and water in the middle of vast open- pit oilsands mines in the boreal forest.
The $ 16.5- billion Carmichael coal mine, proposed by Indian conglomerate Adani, would bring roads; a new town with coal- fired electricity; a fly- in, fly- out workforce; and a rail line to the quiet ancestral lands of the Wangan and Jagalingou people in central Queensland in northeast Australia.
The mine would be 45 kilometres long, 15 kilometres wide and, like much of the oilsands production, the coal is for export, in this case to India to generate electricity.
The indigenous people fear for their water, knowing the mine would require 12 billion litres of water annually.
“It’s a threat to our ability to survive and to thrive,” said Johnson, after meeting prominent Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipeweyan First Nation. “We are fighting a similar battle — to protect plants, wildlife, the land and water. We are hear to learn how the people have stayed strong.”
The fight against the coal mine will benefit all countries, the indigenous leaders added.
At a time when coal- fired electricity is supposed to be scaling back, the new mine result in millions more tonnes of carbon put into the atmosphere for six to nine decades and worsen climate change for everyone, said Johnson.