In a 3-2 ruling, the High Court dismissed MACH Energy's appeal and found the approval of the Mount Pleasant expansion invalid because planners did not consider conditions to minimise emissions from coal burned overseas. Existing operations can continue until 2032, the NSW government said.
Australia's High Court ruled that the approval of MACH Energy's Mount Pleasant coalmine expansion at Muswellbrook was invalid, the Guardian reported. A majority in a 3-2 decision found the Independent Planning Commission had to consider how to mitigate greenhouse gases from coal sold and burned overseas, known as scope 3 emissions, and failed to do so.
The expansion would double output to 21 million tonnes a year until 2048. About 98 percent of projected emissions are scope 3. The court found the approval invalid on a different basis than an earlier NSW Court of Appeal decision. The case was brought by the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group.
The NSW government said on Wednesday that Mount Pleasant has a separate approval to keep operating until 2032 and that the ruling does not change that. It said the decision concerns how the expansion was assessed in 2022 and does not mean an expansion cannot be reconsidered. MACH Energy has indicated it will keep pursuing options, the government said.
The government said a later Hunter Valley Operations approval included consideration of scope 3 emissions. It said it would examine the judgment so future decisions meet the law. No new federal statute was announced in the sources used here.
People Sentiments Mixed
- The NSW government said the ruling does not stop the mine operating until 2032 and does not mean an expansion cannot be reconsidered.
- Wendy Wales of the community group that brought the case said too many Australians were already suffering from extreme weather devastation.