Court overturns massive coal mine approval on climate grounds

The Age

6 days ago

A court has overturned the 2022 approval of a massive Hunter Valley coal mine in a landmark ruling that sets a clear precedent that planning authorities must consider the local impact of global climate change.
The decision by the full bench of the NSW Court of Appeal invalidates the permission for Indonesian company MACH Energy to extend the Mount Pleasant coal mine near Muswellbrook for another 22 years after its current approval expires in 2026.
The project would generate emissions equivalent to 876 megatonnes of carbon dioxide, planning documents say, and about 98 per cent of that would be from customers burning the coal overseas.
Elaine Johnson, the environmental lawyer for Denman, Aberdeen, Muswellbrook and Scone Healthy Environment Group, said it was a 'significant decision for climate change considerations on new and expanded fossil fuel projects in NSW'.
'The fact that the emissions will be generated overseas does not make any difference to the mandatory duty of the NSW Independent Planning Commission to look at what the likely impacts of this coal mine expansion will be on the local community and the people in the environment of NSW,' Johnson said.
'This covers all projects, not just this particular mine – it is, of course, highly relevant to any applications for fossil fuel projects in NSW.'
Anti-fossil fuels group Lock the Gate says there are 18 coal proposals at various stages in the NSW planning system.
The court found that the Independent Planning Commission must consider the causal link between the project's scope-three emissions and climate change, and the effect that would have on the locality of the Mount Pleasant mine.