Australia's High Court Rules Against Coal Mine in Landmark Climate Case
The ruling sets a binding precedent after judges found planners failed to assess 98% of the mine’s emissions.
- 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.
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72 Articles
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MACH Energy commits to responsible operation following court ruling
Image: 169169/stock.adobe.comMACH Energy has reaffirmed its commitment to working with government, regulators and local stakeholders following the High Court’s ruling on its proposed Mount Pleasant mine expansion in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley. “MACH Energy remains committed to operating responsibly within whatever legal framework the NSW Parliament and the courts establish,” the company said. “We will […] Australian Mining.
Can Australian justice curb the country's coal production and export? On Wednesday, 7 October, Australia's highest court ruled against a large-scale project to expand a coal mine, the fossil fuel that emits the most CO2 and is therefore largely responsible for global warming, a first for the second largest global coal exporter whose activity has been boosted by the blockade of the Ormuz Strait and the rising demand for Asian countries.
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