Three coal mines that would emit about 850 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions can now be approved after the Albanese government last night refused a legal request to consider the climate impacts of the mining projects.

These refusals – through delegates of Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek – came just a day after the Albanese government appeared before the International Court of Justice and said it was “resolutely committed to taking urgent action” to address climate change.

These refusals leave the way clear for the Albanese government to approve these mines at any time.

The three mines are:

• Idemitsu's Boggabri coal project in NSW on Gomeroi country, which would produce approximately 68 Mt million tonnes of carbon emissions
• BHP Mitsubishi's Caval Ridge coal project in central Queensland on Barada Barna country, which would produce approximately 440 million tonnes of carbon emissions and
• Jellinbah Group's Lake Vermont coal project, which would produce approximately 334 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

These three mines were subject of an epic legal bid by a small community group called the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ), known as the Living Wonders reconsideration requests. Represented by lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia, ECoCeQ also ran a related series of landmark court cases in which it argued, ultimately unsuccessfully, that the Minister for the Environment was required to consider the lasting climate damage that two different coal mine expansions would cause.

Environmental Council of Central Queensland spokesperson Ellie Smith says:  

‘The Minister has accepted the risk of climate harm from new coal mines to endangered species, world heritage areas and other living wonders, yet today we find out she has refused our requests to change the risk assessments of these coal projects and acknowledge those harms.’   

‘This is another blow from the Albanese government, which came to power promising to protect the environment but keeps approving carbon bombs that will supercharge climate change.’ 

Environmental Justice Australia senior specialist lawyer Retta Berryman, says: 

‘In refusing to change the risk assessment for these massive coal mine expansions, the Albanese government has failed to recognise their climate harms to thousands of animals, plants and places.’  

‘The Minister has a critical job of assessing each new project for its environmental risks. But our laws as they stand give the Minister broad discretion in how she chooses to do that job.   

‘With the climate clock ticking, our client is dismayed that the government continues to use this discretion to sidestep the known climate harms of fossil fuel projects. In light of the failed national environmental law reform process, the government also appears to have no plan whatsoever to take any steps to prevent climate harm from new coal and gas.’ 

‘Our clients fought valiantly to stop this from happening.’ 

Background

There are more than 30 coal mining and gas projects currently awaiting decision on Minister Plibersek’s desk under Australia’s environment laws.  

During the last 25 years of Australia’s environment laws, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, 99.9% of fossil fuel projects have been approved. This is why communities have been fighting hard to fix the Act and include specific climate pollution considerations.  

Last week, Prime Minister Albanese Anthony Albanese vetoed the government’s “nature positive” legislation after pressure from an alarmed oil and gas resources sector in Western Australia.  

The mines:

Boggabri coal mine expansion – Idemitsu – northern NSW

Due to be shut down in 2033, Idemitsu wants to extend the life of its Boggabri open-cut coal mine in New South Wales’ Leard State Forest near Gunnedah by an extra six years to 2039. 

The expansion will see the depth of the mine increased, and the life of the mine extended 10 years to 2039. Boggabri Coal Mine will produce 68 million tonnes of emissions over its lifetime. 

It was approved by the NSW state government in January 2024 but will not undergo an independent assessment process by the Independent Planning Commission because the NSW government classified it as a “modification”. 

Idemitsu was previously penalised for breaching its water license and taking more than 500 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of surface water at its Boggabri coal mine during a drought.

Caval Ridge Mine Horse Pit Extension – BHP Mitsubishi Alliance – Bowen Basin, central Qld 

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s proposes to extend the Caval Ridge Coal Mine and operate it for more than three decades, to 2056. 

BM Alliance proposes to construct and operate an extension to the existing Caval Ridge Coal Mine (CVM) Horse Pit, approximately 5 km southwest of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin, Queensland. 

The CVM is an open cut mining operation that supplies hard coking coal product for the export market. 

The total combustion CO2 emissions for the product coal of the Proposed Project is estimated to be 440.64 million CO2. 

The extension was approved by the Queensland state government in September 2023.  

Lake Vermont Meadowbrook Coal Mine Project – Bowen Basin Coal – central Qld 

While the existing Lake Vermont coal mine winds down, its owners propose to expand the mine to run for another 20 years. 

Bowen Basin Coal proposes to construct and operate a double-seam underground longwall coal mine, three open-cut pits and associated infrastructure in the Bowen Basin, approximately 30 kilometres North-East of Dysart, Queensland 

The Proposed Project is expected to produce up to 7 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of run of mine (ROM) coal, equivalent to approximately 5.5 Mtpa of metallurgical and thermal product coal (for export and domestic market) over a life of approximately 25 years. 

This equals a total of 137.5 million tonnes (Mt) of product coal over the life of the mine. The total of combustion CO2 emissions for the product coal of the Proposed Project is estimated to be 334.13 million tonnes of CO2.  

Aren’t these existing mines?    

These are applications for huge coal expansions. Once approved, they will extend coal mining in Australia by decades. Australia is one of the biggest coal exporters in the world  in terms of exported emissions. Our contribution to climate change is crucial: we know that no matter where the coal is burnt, every fraction of a degree matters in terms of bushfires, floods, and cyclones.  

But what about the safeguard mechanism?   

By far the biggest climate impact of these coal mines will happen when the coal they produce is burned.Each of these coal mines will probably be covered by the Safeguard Mechanism, but only in relation to emissions produced at the mine site – a tiny fraction of the overall carbon footprint of each mine.  

Also, although the safeguard mechanism is the Australian Government’s main policy for reducing industrial emissions, it doesn’t actually prevent companies from creating greenhouse gas pollution. In effect, companies can keep polluting, they just have to buy carbon credits – for example from tree planting projects - to reduce their “net emissions” on paper.   

The issue is that carbon credits are not a valid compensation for fossil fuel emissions.   

When fossil fuels are mined and burned, they release greenhouse gases that have been trapped for billions of years. Trees can only store carbon for a couple of hundreds of years, at most. So, the amount of climate-warming pollution created by mines and other facilities covered by the safeguard mechanism will – with the way the system currently works – continue to increase.   

The climate reality  

The world’s scientists and the International Energy Agency say to keep global heating to safer levels there can be no new coal and gas.Pacific leaders are also demanding Australia stop approving new coal and gas to give their low-lying islands a fighting chance.   

Media contact: Miki Perkins

[email protected] and 03 8341 3110

Environment Council of Central Queensland is a small volunteer-run environment council, formed in Mackay, covering Central QLD from the outback to the ocean. Surround by reefs, rainforest, koalas, and a staggering number of coal mines, the group formed out of rapidly growing concern for the health and future of the local environment and the impact local developments are having on our planet’s climate. www.ecoceq.org

Environmental Justice Australia is a national public interest legal organisation. For more than 30 years, EJA has used the law for safe climate, thriving nature, environmental justice and a radically better world.  

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