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Landcare group launches legal bid against $1.5bn NSW mine

Landcare group launches legal bid against $1.5bn NSW mine

Photo by Bloombeg

31st August 2015

By: Esmarie Iannucci

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

  

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PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The $1.5-billion Watermark coal project, being developed by China’s Shenhua Group, in New South Wales, is facing legal action as a local landcare group on Monday launched a petition in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court to halt the project.

The group argued that the Watermark mine approval, granted by Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt in July, failed to properly consider whether the opencut coal mine would place a viable local population of koalas at risk of extinction.

The New South Wales Nature Conservation Council and the Upper Mooki Landcare group on Monday also launched a report detailing what they called the “flaws” of the assessment process.

“Coal mining and koalas do not mix, yet this application was assessed without proper scrutiny.

“It’s wrong to push the region’s significant koala population to extinction for the sake of a coal mine, like it’s unwise to destroy New South Wales’ food bowl and the region’s water security,” said Upper Mooki Landcare Group spokesperson Heather Ranclaud.

“Upper Mooki Landcare is arguing in the Court that the Planning and Assessment Commission failed to determine whether the mine would place a viable local koala population at risk of extinction, as required by the laws of New South Wales.

“We are pursuing legal action because there are still so many unanswered questions about the viability of Shenhua's proposed koala plan and it seems, at this point, the plan does not guarantee the survival of the estimated 262 koalas currently living where Shenhua wants to put its mine,” she added.

The Watermark project would comprise a ten-million-tonne-a-year openpit mine, with a mine life of some 30 years. The project was expected to employ about 600 full-time employees during construction and 434 full-time employees during operation.

The legal battle over the Watermark project comes just days after the Federal Court overturned government approval for the $16.5-billion Carmichael coal and rail project, in Queensland, following a successful legal challenge by an environmental group.

The approval was appealed by greens group the Mackay Conservation Group, which made use of a loophole in the current Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and argued that Hunt had failed to consider conservation advice when making his decision on the project.

Following the successful appeal, the Department of Environment admitted that its advice to the Minister should have been provided in a “particular manner”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Environment declined to comment, saying that it would not be appropriate for Minister Hunt to comment on the issue, since it was to appear before the courts.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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