Economic conditions have killed another billion-dollar export port project but saved the multinational proponents a world of environmental heartache in the process. The Balaclava Island coal port, which was to cost $1 billion and move 35 million tonnes of coal a year, was singled out last week in UNESCO’s scathing appraisal of Queensland’s port development plans, as threatening to put the Great Barrier Reef on the “in danger” list. Like Woodside’s James Price Point gas hub, Glencore Xstrata’s Balaclava Island coal terminal has been at the top of the hit list for national green groups.
See http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/miner-drops-ecological-hot-potato/story-e6frgd0x-1226641529649.