The Tussle Between Energy and Ecology Moves to the Australian Outback

Paola Cassoni owns the 20,000-acre Bimblebox Nature Refuge in the outback of Queensland, Australia, which is threatened by plans for a mine supplying coal to China.

Here’s a Dot Earth “Postcard” from the outback — specifically from the Bimblebox Nature Refuge, a 20,000-acre patch of drylands ecosystems in Queensland, Australia, whose owners are fighting a plan to mine surface and subterranean coal seams to supply China’s relentless needs.

There are echoes of a conflict in Ecuador over a biological eden that lies atop substantial oil reserves, and the brewing fight in the Pacific Northwest aimed at preventing big new coal exports to China. Here’s the postcard from Paola Cassoni, a co-owner of the refuge:

Here in outback Queensland, Australia, we are experiencing firsthand the consequences of the growing coal demands of countries like India and China. Our region – now known to the world as the ‘Galilee Basin’ – is being opened up to coal mining for the very first time. All of the coal that is dug up will be shipped overseas for electricity generation.

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