Once again, serious questions are being raised about the decision to allow the dumping of dredge spoil in Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Last January, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) approved a plan to dump three million cubic metres of dredge spoil inside the marine park to expand the Abbot Point coal port.
Internal documents obtained by Australia's current affairs program, Four Corners has revealed the decision was made against the recommendations of senior scientists. The story was televised last week.
Journalist Marian Wilkinson reported,
[T]he Abbot Point decision was bitterly fought inside the Marine Park Authority right up until January this year. For months the Authority's key experts in Townsville advised their superiors and the Federal Environment Department that the dumping was unacceptable... The advice of the Marine Park Authority experts is contained here in hundreds of internal documents. Released under Freedom of Information to environmentalists, they include candid emails revealed tonight for the first time.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/the-great-barrier-reef-th...