APRIL 17, 2015: It's good to hear that the State Labor Government has today issued their referral for environmental assessment of the Abbot Point coal port expansion to the Federal Government.However we can now expect another avalanche of extreme green group opposition.The reality is we will now go through yet another public consultation period before the Abbott Government can begin the final assessment of the project.During this time every extreme Green group under the sun will come out of the woodwork to bag Abbot Point because this is the last throw of the dice for them in stopping the expansion from proceeding.We could have avoided this free green kick if the new State Labor government had continued to support the previous LNP government’s referral.The Queensland Labor Government held up the project after their election by caving in to extreme green claims that the on-shore disposal of dredge spoil would affect a “pristine wetland”.Locals knew the Caley Valley wetlands was a duck-hunting area created from a dry flat plain in the 1950s, but the new Labor Government fell for the green lie on this.The pending approval will pave the way for Adani to start the development of the $7 billion coal mine, port and rail line in central Queensland.This project is time critical.Adani have been seeking to get this project off the ground for five long years.It’s vitally important for this region that we get the project up and running as soon as possible, for the sake of the region, and the state’s coffers.