Australia’s new environment minister Murray Watt faces a tough first call as the owner of one of the largest coal mining projects ever considered in NSW argues the impact of burning coal on the Great Barrier Reef is beyond the scope of Australia’s environment laws.
Glencore and Yancoal’s joint venture, Hunter Valley Operations, is again seeking approval from the NSW and Commonwealth governments to expand and continue its huge coal mine until 2045. The initial public consultation period for its federal application closes on Friday.
An application for the expansion was last year withdrawn from the Federal environmental referral system after the NSW government urged the companies to review the scale of the plans given the enormous volume of greenhouse pollution it would create.
The new application is still huge: This single project would produce more greenhouse pollution over 20 years than the international shipping industry’s annual emissions. HVO would be responsible for:
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15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia between now and 2045,
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More than 780 million tonnes of emissions from burning its coal. See Table 5.
The company, in its application to the Federal Government, provided an elaborate justification for why the impact of this pollution on the Great Barrier Reef and other matters of national environmental significance (MNES) should not be part of the new Environment Minister’s consideration. Glencore drew on the judgment in last year’s “Living Wonders” court case and opened a fresh front in the unresolved problems left in its wake.
The application notes that while greenhouse gas pollution poses an existential threat to the reef, it can’t be proven that the nearly 800 million tonnes created by Glencore’s coal mine expansion will be responsible for the increase in global temperatures which is harming the reef. Page 15
Lock the Gate Alliance Head of Research and Investigations Georgina Woods said, “The two companies behind the project, Glencore and Yancoal, are among the largest coal mining companies in the world.
“They are directly responsible for greenhouse pollution in our atmosphere that is destabilising our climate and causing increasingly destructive weather events that harm Australian communities.
“Everyone admits that burning coal for electricity is killing the Great Barrier Reef, but one of the world’s largest producers of coal is arguing that the next Australian environment minister shouldn’t concern themselves with that.
“Glencore is one of the biggest coal mining companies in the world. Its own climate reports show that there will be virtually zero seaborne trade in thermal coal by 2040 under a scenario where we get global warming under control enough to perhaps save the Great Barrier Reef.
“The Federal Court “Living Wonders” decision last year highlighted the limitations of Australian environmental law without resolving the problem of coal industry expansion plans driving Australia’s natural heritage to extinction.
“That problem is now handballed to the new minister and he will have to act on it.”
ENDS
Background:
The HVO expansion application comes less than a month after the largest ever global coral bleaching event, where more than 80% of the world's reefs in 82 countries suffered bleaching, including widespread areas of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which just experienced its sixth widespread bleaching event in nine years, and Ningaloo Reef. The full assessment of coral death and damage as a result of the recent summer is not expected to be released until August.