A crucial review of Whitehaven Coal’s biodiversity offsets for their controversial Maules Creek coal mine project should be made public immediately, according to an environment group that has alleged the offset commitments made by the company were based on false information. 

The Lock the Gate Alliance has slammed the Federal Government’s decision to approve another huge mega mine in the Galilee Basin saying the social and ecological impacts of the mine cannot be justified.

The Northern Inland Council for the Environment has expressed deep disappointment with the loss of its legal challenge against the Whitehaven Maules Ck Coal mine, and said the ruling highlighted the failures of Federal environment laws.

In a judgement handed down this afternoon, the Federal Court ruled that the approval of the Maules Ck coal mine by former Environment Minister, Tony Burke, was valid and dismissed the challenge that had been brought by the Northern Inland Council for the Environment. 

The Lock the Gate Alliance has welcomed the Independent Commission Against Corruption's recommendation to cancel two coal exploration leases in the Hunter Valley and has called on the Premier to act immediately on this and other recommendations of the ICAC.

“People in Bylong and Jerrys Plains will breathe easier once the Mt Penny and Doyles Creek exploration leases have been scrapped”, said the Alliance's Hunter region coordinator, Steve Phillips. “They should never have been issued in the first place.”

Over one hundred people have blockaded three entrances to the site of Whitehaven Coal’s controversial Maules Creek coal project, near Boggabri in north west NSW today, stopping preparatory work to clear the forest. Four protest sites have been established, including one that is stopping trucks from leaving Whitehaven’s nearby Tarrawonga mine.