I agree. The Great Barrier Reef is in good condition. Increased sediment from the Abbott Point expansion is not likely to do significant harm.

But…

We should NOT be enormously expanding our coal exports to the extent that a tripling of the size of the current Abbott Point terminal would be needed. Nor anything like it.

Surely the rate of coal exports is high enough as it is!

The recent 4 Corners program concentrated on the effects on the reef of the very large dredging exercise that would be needed for this expansion, and on the apparent contradictions between what the scientists were saying and what was approved by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. But it only just cursorily mentioned that some of the argument stems from opposition to coal expansion from the opening up of the Galilee Basin, with new mines of the magnitude we have never seen before.

But surely this is what really matters here. We need to get right away from this constant expansionist mentality and get our heads around the imperative to achieve a stable population and a sustainable society.

< Australia now faces a developing economic crisis that may well become the most serious in our history. >

Yes! So what should we be doing? Digging up coal at an ever-faster rate in order to boost our export income, and continue to rapidly grow our population so that any increase in this export income goes straight into providing infrastructure and services for ever-more people rather than into real improvements for the current population?

Should we just be pushing forward with exactly the same approach that has led to this precarious economic crisis?

It is ABSOLUTELY time to start pulling back on our addiction to fossil fuels.

A STOP to the expansion of coal mining and the Abbott Pt port would be a very good place to start.

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2014: Dr Walter Starck has a PhD in marine science including post graduate training and professional experience in fisheries biology.
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2024: Heretic Walter Starck was an infidel, beheaded by the Green-State for defamation of Gaia.
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Dear Ludwig,

Yes, it is time to start pulling back on our addiction to fossil fuels, but not for stupid reasons such as the CO2 hoax.

Consider all that fossil-based energy burnt to maintain the lifestyle of the "climate science" clergy and all those Shaheeds flying around to international "climate-change" conferences, using nothing but fossil fuel.

I wrote:

>> Should we just be pushing forward with exactly the same approach that has led to this precarious economic crisis? <<

That should have been; ‘situation’, not crisis. We aren’t in an economic crisis … … … yet!

.

Yuyutsu, you wrote:

<< Yes, it is time to start pulling back on our addiction to fossil fuels, but not for stupid reasons such as the CO2 hoax. >>

I certainly don’t accept AGW as a hoax. Far from it. But yes, we should be pulling right back on our absolute addiction to fossil fuels for reasons completely separate to climate change. It has got be about energy supply and demand capability, and the effects on our economy and society of having an energy regime that is going to be much more expensive and difficult than the current oil, coal and gas-based regime.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people who are concerned about the impacts of all of this get hung up on addressing symptoms, or relatively minor side issues, such as the effect of dredging on the reef, and don’t put anywhere near enough effort into addressing the big picture!

I have always said to my environmental mates; please, put at least half of your energies into addressing the big picture of a sustainable society and planet. But alas, it just doesn’t happen. And consequently they fail. They may be successful in stopping some environmentally damaging projects here and there. But overall they just lose. Damn pity that is.

There are plenty of people out there who are concerned about what is happening with our fossil fuel addiction, ever-rapidly-growing population and ever-more precarious economic situation. But they just aren’t getting stuck into addressing it in anything like a united manner. Again, damn pity that is.

Dr Starck's article makes excellent sense. The reef has supposedly been under threat of imminent destruction ever since I can remember but its still there. However, just try to convince the end-of-the-world crowd that shifting a bunch of sediment from one spot to another 80 kilometers of so from the main reef is no big deal and see what happens? They must have a sense of crisis and the facts don't matter..

Maybe it's time for more tourists to escape GBR controversies, and head south to where it remains a "Wonderful World"!

http://youtu.be/i90I5HuNOTk

" It's the science, not the reef, that is being polluted".

The author is correct. But try to convince the ABC and other Left-wing media outlets -- regrettably they have closed minds on this issue