The High Court dismissed MACH Energy's appeal and left in place a block on extending the Mount Pleasant mine to 2048. Justice James Edelman said planners failed to consider rules for the project's climate footprint.
Australia's High Court on Wednesday dismissed MACH Energy's appeal and upheld a decision blocking a two-decade extension of the Mount Pleasant coal mine in New South Wales. Reuters said it was the first climate case decided by the country's top court.
The mine is due to stop operating in December this year. MACH wanted to run it until 2048 and double production, which would have allowed an extra 406 million tons of coal, Reuters reported. The court dismissed the appeal with costs.
Justice James Edelman said local authorities failed to properly consider rules to mitigate the project's climate footprint. Scope 3 emissions, mostly from burning exported coal, made up 98 percent of the mine's greenhouse gas emissions, and the state's Independent Planning Commission had not considered rules to address them because most would be generated overseas.
Bloomberg said the ruling means planners weighing coal projects should consider climate impacts from the fuel's use, and that Australia's coal export sector generates about 70 billion Australian dollars, or 49 billion US dollars. Advocates said the precedent will affect future fossil-fuel approvals in New South Wales.
Wendy Wales, a retired science teacher and president of the community group that brought the case, said the court had rejected the idea that coal shipped overseas has nothing to do with local consequences. MACH Energy's response was not included in the Reuters dispatch.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Wendy Wales said the court rejected the claim that exported coal and its climate consequences have nothing to do with Australia.