Adani has chosen to fight a $12,900 fine by the Queensland government for the unauthorised release of coal-laden stormwater into the sea at its Abbot Point port during a cyclone in March.
The Indian energy giant has given notice to the state environment department that it intends to contest the modest penalty infringement notice in court, the Guardian can reveal.
Environmental groups had lambasted the fine, which was issued on 20 July for a technical breach of a floodwater release permit, as a slap on the wrist.
Kelly O’Shanassy, the Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive, said Adani was now “having a laugh” after they “barely got a slap on the wrist” for the environmental licence breach.
“For a multibillion-dollar multinational to challenge such a meagre fine shows real contempt for the Queensland and Australian public,” she said.
“If this is their attitude now, what will it be like it they are allowed to construct a massive dirty new coalmine that would contribute to the destruction of our Great Barrier Reef and threaten our planet with more carbon pollution?”
An Adani company that operates the port dumped water containing more than eight times the permitted amount of sediment during Cyclone Debbie on 27 March. Adani reported the breach to the government 10 days later.
Adani had far exceeded the “generous conditions” of a special licence to dump polluted water into the ocean during Cyclone Debbie, O’Shanassy said.
The company could still face a separate multimillion-dollar fine if found guilty of causing environmental harm from a release of polluted water into the neighbouring Caley Valley wetlands.
That release is still subject to an ongoing investigation, according to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.
A spokeswoman for the department said on Thursday a court date for Adani’s challenge to the fine had not yet been set.
Adani has flagged spending $22bn on Australia’s largest coal project in Queensland’s Galilee basin.
The infringement notice was issued to Abbot Point Bulk Coal Pty Ltd, a company which its Indian-listed parent has been trying to sell to a tax haven company linked to the Adani family for more than four years.
The Abbot Point operator was granted a temporary licence to discharge stormwater with up to 100mg a litre of “suspended solids” as high rainfall from Debbie lashed the north Queensland coast.
But the company told the department it had breached the licence with a release recording sediment at 806mg a litre.
“The company’s environmental authority and [temporary emissions licence] contained strict conditions that should have been adhered to in ensuring the environment was protected, especially during extreme weather events,” the department said in a statement to Guardian Australia after issuing the fine.
“Temporary emissions licences and environmental authorities are not taken lightly by the department and there can be harsh penalties for companies that breach their approvals.”
The Guardian sought comment from two spokesmen for Adani in Australia.
Adani has previously rejected claims by conservationists that coal-laden water had contaminated the Caley Valley wetlands and possibly coastal waters near the Great Barrier Reef marine park.
The environment department’s director general, Jim Reeves, has previously flagged that “serious penalties” for corporations causing environmental harm through licence breaches included fines of up to $3.8m for deliberate breaches and $2.7m for accidents.
