<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/shocking-shameful-abhorrent-coal-mine-approvals-slammed-for-reckless-disregard-of-climate/>
"The Albanese government has given the green tick to three major thermal coal
mine expansions in New South Wales, in a move that critics say lays bare the
blatant disregard of climate change in Australia’s federal environmental laws.
Environment minister Tanya Plibersek signed off on Tuesday to extensions to two
coal mines in the Hunter Valley – stage three of Whitehaven’s Narrabri
underground mine and Ashton Coal’s Ravensworth mine – and to Mach Energy’s
Mount Pleasant optimisation project in the state’s north-west.
Environmental Justice Australia say the Mount Pleasant extension – which was
the subject of an “epic, but ultimately unsuccessful” community-based legal
challenge – will create the biggest coal mine in Australia, three times larger
than the Adani coal mine approved by the Morrison government.
The decision, which Plibersek says was made “in accordance with the facts and
the national environmental law,” has received widespread condemnation over the
significant climate impact the projects will have, alongside their impacts on
biodiversity, water supply and endangered species habitat.
According to the Lock the Gate Alliance, the Narrabri Underground coal
expansion approval extends to 2066 and will clear 457 hectares of habitat for
the endangered koala in the Pilliga Forest and drain farm water bores in the
Hunter region.
The “huge expansion” to Mach Energy’s Mount Pleasant open cut mine on near
Muswellbrook will clear the habitat of a legless lizard listed as endangered
earlier this year, and which lives only in the Hunter region, the Alliance
says.
The Ravensworth decision re-approves the exploitation of around 40 million
tonnes of coal at the closed underground mine which Lock the Gate says would
otherwise not have been mined.
But it is the “reckless disregard” for the effects of catastrophic climate
change that has been the most jarring, with the three projects estimated to
lock in as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions –
more than double Australia’s total annual emissions.
“We are shocked that a government that came to power promising to halt
extinction and act on climate change has sunk so low,” said Lock the Gate
Alliance spokesperson Carmel Flint in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is shameful that a government supposedly committed to net zero emissions by
2050 has approved thermal coal mines, the most polluting fossil fuel on the
planet, to operate until 2058, 2064 and 2066. Australians will pay the price of
this decision for generations to come.”
The approvals come as Labor’s “Nature Positive” legislation, including proposed
laws to create an independent environmental regulator, Environmental Protection
Australia, and to factor climate into the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, remains stalled in the Senate."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
