Australia's High Court Rules Against Coal Mine in Landmark Climate Case
- On Wednesday, the High Court dismissed MACH Energy's appeal, upholding a lower court ruling that the Mount Pleasant coal mine expansion approval violated environmental planning laws.
- Retired teachers Wendy Wales and Tony Lonergan, representing the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group , challenged the project, which sought to double yearly output to 21 million tonnes.
- Judges ruled the Independent Planning Commission breached s.4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 by failing to evaluate how exported coal pollution affects local climate risks through bushfires, drought, and flooding.
- Following the judgment, the Mount Pleasant expansion approval remains invalid and must be referred to the NSW Land and Environment Court or the IPC for reassessment of the project's local climate impacts.
- Across the NSW planning system, the ruling establishes a binding national precedent, directly affecting 17 coal proposals in the pipeline and creating a template for future climate litigation across Australia.
34 Articles
34 Articles
Australia's High Court rules against coal mine in landmark climate case
Retired science teachers Wendy Wales and Tony Lonergan have fought for years to halt a planned mine expansion in Australia's rural coal-digging heartland. The High Court ruled the expansion should be halted because planning bodies had not properly looked at the local impacts of planet-heating emissions from the coal. Environmental campaigners said the decision set a "binding national precedent" that required climate damage to be considered when …
In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, the Australian High Court opposed an extensive plan to extend an open coal mine north of Sydney due to the climatic consequences of the project, a victory for environmental activists.
Activists win landmark climate change case over MACH mine extension
Save (0) Please login to bookmark Close Username or Email Address Password Remember Me A community group has won the first-ever climate change case to go to the High Court, which found Wednesday that a planning authority was required to consider the climate impacts of downstream emissions before approving MACH Energy’s bid to expand its Mount Pleasant coal mine. Subscribe to Lawyerly to access this ar…
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