Landholders and community groups have reacted with joy and relief after the Independent Planning Commission announced it had refused approval to a controversial coal mine in the secluded Bylong Valley, and have congratulated the NSW Government on letting the independent process run its course.

South32 must not be permitted to put the Greater Sydney region’s water at further risk with its planned Dendrobium mine expansion, according to Lock the Gate Alliance.

The Western Australian EPA must listen to Dongara region farmers and publicly assess the Waitsia Gasfield proposal before bending over backwards for the owners of the project, which will likely require fracking at a future stage.

An inquiry soon to be underway in NSW could help provide a roadmap for renewal in the Hunter Valley region in the face of global coal demand decline, according to Hunter Renewal.

Local farmers have called for the Queensland Government to refuse a groundwater licence for the Acland Stage 3 coal expansion, after the Court of Appeal today ruled the Land Court did not have the power to consider groundwater impacts from mining.