Queensland Land Court deals blow to Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal bid

Queensland’s Land Court has dealt mining billionaire Clive Palmer a fresh blow in his ambition to develop a major coal mine in the state’s Galilee Basin on climate change grounds.

Queensland’s Land Court has dealt mining billionaire Clive Palmer a fresh blow in his long-held ambition to develop a major coal mine in the state’s Galilee Basin, backing the arguments of environmentalists that the thermal coal mine poses the risk of accelerating global warming.

The Land Court’s ruling is not binding, and a final decision Waratah Coal’s applications for environmental approval and mining licences still rests with the state government. But the ruling of Land Court president Fleur Kingham is a blow to the mine’s chances of going ahead, and adds to a body of recent Australian legal decisions over whether the impact of mines on global carbon emissions should be a factor in their approval.

“In the end, I have decided that the climate scenario consistent with a viable mine risks unacceptable climate change impacts to Queensland people and property, even taking into account the economic and social benefits of the project,” she said.

The case against Waratah’s approval was brought by the Environmental Defenders Office, on behalf of activist group Youth Verdict and The Bimblebox Alliance, and used the state’s Human Rights Act to argue the use of coal produced by the mine would help accelerate global warming and posed a risk to the human rights of future generations and Indigenous people.

Should it be developed Waratah’s proposed 40 million tonnes a year of exports would make it Queensland’s biggest thermal coal operation. Waratah argued its approval would have contributed about $2.5bn a year to the state’s economy and would make no net difference to global carbon emissions as it would displace lower quality coal.

But, while environmental groups hailed the precedent set by the decision on Friday, the Land Court president said her decision was made solely on the merits of Waratah’s circumstances and should not be interpreted as a blanket ruling against the development of new coal mines in Queensland.

“This case is not about whether any new coal mines should be approved. It is about whether this coal mine should be approved on its merits,” she said.

Environmental defenders office managing lawyer Sean Ryan said the Land Court decision was “hugely significant”.

“This is a great day for nature conservation and our climate. It’s also a hugely significant legal victory for First Nations peoples seeking to protect their cultures and communities from the impacts of climate change,” he said.

The project, formerly known as the China First coal project, was once part of Mr Palmer’s $US3.6bn ($5.3bn) attempt to float part of his mining empire on the Hong Kong stock exchange during the last mining boom.

The float would have included Waratah Coal, then tipped to produce more than 50 million tonnes of export coal a year, and an iron ore project in WA’s Pilbara region. Mr Palmer pulled the float amid a commodity price slump in 2011 and Waratah has since pushed to develop the project on its own.