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https://reneweconomy.com.au/nsw-approves-extension-of-its-second-most-polluting-coal-mine-to-the-benefit-of-no-one-but-its-owner/>
"In a week where national attention is rightly focussed on the potential
approval of the North West Shelf project, Tuesday’s quiet approval of the
Tahmoor Colliery could prove to be one of the NSW government’s biggest setbacks
to achieving its 2030 emissions targets.
Tahmoor colliery is a super-emitting underground coal mine. In 2024, it
released the equivalent of more than a million tonnes of carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere, before any of its coal was burned. Thanks to this new approval,
the mine is estimated to release up to 11.5 million tonnes more of CO₂e over
the next 8 years.
As coal mines go, it is the second most emissions-intensive coal mine in NSW,
and thanks to this week’s approval, it could be on track to become the most
intense emitting coal mine in the state by the end of the decade.
Most of this pollution is in the form of methane, that is simply released
directly into the atmosphere through its ventilation shaft. Not only will this
methane have a significant short term warming impact on the atmosphere, but its
cumulative emissions increase risks undermining not only NSW’s 2050 net zero
targets, but critically threatens the more immediate and similarly legislated
2030 emissions goals.
In the next year alone, methane emissions could surge by 57% if the expansion
proceeds unchecked.
Yet, in their review process, the NSW government focused narrowly on the
additional 1.14 Mt CO₂e associated with just the final 14 months of mining.
This approach not only fails to account for the rapid year-on-year escalation
in emissions as mining shifts into a much gassier coal seam, it also quite
simply misses the forest through the trees.
Almost any new facility would be deemed insignificant compared to the state’s
cumulative emissions over the next 25 years. Using this as a benchmark for
approvals simply obscures the responsibilities for emissions reductions and
weakens the integrity of the state’s climate planning.
However, technology to mitigate the biggest source of methane at underground
coal mines has been deemed feasible at the Tahmoor colliery since at least
2021. Tahmoor’s own consultants estimate that on site mitigation could reduce
fugitive methane emissions by at least 79%, and yet, actions to mitigate the
mine’s biggest emissions sources have barely gone beyond a scoping study.
Instead, the mine is now only required to submit a greenhouse gas mitigation
plan in early 2026, outlining the results of an internal study of the mine’s
methane mitigation potential. It doesn’t compel action nor serve as a condition
for the mine’s current approval. This passive regulatory approach stands in
stark contrast to the urgency of the climate crisis."
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
