Environment Minster to Face Federal Court Over Proposed Mount Pleasant Coal Mine Expansion

BY SHY-ANN ARKINSTALL 

The Environment Council of Central Queensland has announced today they are taking Australia's Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek to the Federal Court for failing to recognise the environmental impacts of proposed expansions to two mining projects.

Expansions were proposed for the Narrabi Underground Mine and the Mount Pleasant mine at Muswellbrook, which the group says would create long term environmental damage and fuel climate change.

MACH Energy plans to expand it's coal extraction rates at the Muswellbrook site to produce up to 21 million tonnes of coal each year, and wants to extend its operations until 2048. 

The move would make it the largest open cut mine in NSW. 

The ECoCQ says the Minister made key legal errors when she refused to accept the climate harm posed by the project. 

If the case is successful, it could mean all new coal and gas projects would need to be properly assessed for their climate risk. 

Image: Newcastle Herald