Tanya Plibersek says mine approvals can proceed without climate probe

An approval path has been cleared by Canberra to expand three significant coal mines without the need to consider their potential impact on climate change.

BHP’s control room for its Caval Ridge mine.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has cleared the approval path to expand three major coal mines, rejecting environmentalist appeals that she needs to consider the impact of the projects on climate change.

The decision means the planned expansion of Idemitsu’s Boggabri mine in NSW along with the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance Caval Ridge and Jellinbah Group Lake Vermont mines in Queensland will avoid being bogged down in costly legal appeals based around climate.

A spokeswoman for Ms Plibersek said the decision by the minister’s delegate to reject a call by environment groups for climate change to be considered as part of the approval process meant the projects would move to the next assessment phase.

The mine applications were subject of a legal bid begun in 2022 by the Environment Council of Central Queensland known as the Living Wonders case, which argued that Ms Plibersek was required to consider the lasting climate damage that the coal mine expansions could cause. The Federal Court in May rejected the law suit, noting the minister could not be satisfied that emissions from the mines, if they went ahead, would be a “substantial cause” of climate harms to protected species, places and ecosystems.

Ms Plibersek’s decision has been welcomed by the mining sector, which has long complained about the lengthy and costly process of obtaining approvals for new projects.

Australia is not keeping pace as an attractive place to invest and risks falling behind its global peers in areas such as major project permitting, BHP president Australia Geraldine Slattery told the Melbourne Mining Club on Thursday.

Ms Slattery said the competitive advantage Australia had enjoyed for decades provided by its vast reserves of iron ore and coal did not apply to the minerals needed for the energy transition.

Idemitsu Australia said it welcomed the positive decision for Boggabri Coal, which cleared the way for the minister to make a final ruling on the expansion.

“This will give surety to the operation, its employees and the local community in which we operate,” an Idemitsu spokesman said.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.

A BMA spokesman said the application supported the continued operations at the existing Caval Ridge metallurgical coal mine in central Queensland, saying the world needed “reliable, long-term supplies of higher-quality metallurgical coal for steelmaking”.

The Caval Ridge project underwent a variety of environmental impact studies that included substantial on-ground study, modelling and data analysis, and peer review.

Threatened species was one of many environmental aspects assessed as part of design.

Environmental Council of Central Queensland spokeswoman Ellie Smith said the decision on the coal mine approvals meant Ms Plibersek “has accepted the risk of climate harm from new coal mines to endangered species and world heritage areas”.

Environment groups claim the three coal mines would emit about 850 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions.

“This is another blow from the Albanese government, which came to power promising to protect the environment but keeps approving carbon bombs that will supercharge climate change,” Ms Smith said.

Environmental Justice Australia senior specialist lawyer Retta Berryman said that in refusing to change the risk assessment for the expansions, the government had failed to recognise their climate harms to thousands of animals, plants and places.

“The minister has a critical job of assessing each new project for its environmental risks,” Ms Berryman said.

Originally published as Tanya Plibersek says mine approvals can proceed without climate probe