Outrage after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek approves three coal mine extensions

Outrage is building after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek approved three new coal mine extensions - one fellow MP calling the decision “despicable”.

Environmentalist fury has exploded across social media following a decision from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to approve three new coal mine extensions.

The decision, which came down on Thursday afternoon, clears the way for BHP’s Caval Ridge mine in central Queensland, Jellinbah Group’s Lake Vermont Meadowbrook project - also in central Queensland - and Idemitsu’s Boggabri mine in NSW to extend production and pump out more coal.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt labelled the decision “despicable”.

“In the middle of a climate crisis, as fires rage and floods threaten, Labor approves four new coal projects,” Mr Bandt wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“That’s now 32 new coal and gas projects approved by Labor.

“And climate emissions are now higher under Labor than when Scott Morrison left.”

The fourth project Mr Bandt refers to is the proposed Vulcan South coal mine in central Queensland, which is closing in on final approvals.

Independent Senator David Pocock slammed the approvals as “reckless and irresponsible”.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek approved three coal mine extensions on Thursday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Greens leader Adam Bandt slammed the decision as ‘despicable’. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“Together they will cause 880 million tonnes of CO2 – nearly double Australia’s total annual emissions,” he said.

“These decisions are reckless and irresponsible.”

Environmentalist lobby group Lock the Gate Alliance said the approvals would put “all Australians” at risk of more “extreme weather caused by climate change.”

“The Albanese Government should be backing Aussies as we prepare to face another long hot summer, with extreme heatwaves and worsening bushfires, not waving through more coal approvals for multinational mining corporations who have no stake in our future,” national co-ordinator Carmel Flint said.

“The government has turned its back on reforms to environment laws to make sure climate impacts were properly assessed and ignored the Federal Court who said our laws were not up to scratch to deal with climate change.”

The approvals are not for new operations, but for pre-existing mines.

The Caval Ridge approval is expected to extend the life of the mine from the 2030s to 2050s, but it is not expected to expand current production volumes.

BHP’s Caval Ridge coal mine in Queensland produces coking coal, or steelmaking coal. Picture supplied by BHP

Jellinbah has said the extension would maintain Lake Vermont’s current production output of nine million tonnes per annum.

“The project will achieve this by substituting the forecast future decline in open cut output with production from a new underground extension to recover the deeper resources,” the company said.

The Caval Ridge, Jellinbah and Boggabri extensions will all deliver coking coal, or steelmaking coal.

Coking coal, or steelmaking coal, is used as an input in the steelmaking process, while thermal coal is burned to generate energy.

Taken together, the extensions are expected to support up to 3000 jobs.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Minister said the federal government made its approval decisions on a “case-by-case basis in accordance with the facts and the law”.

“That’s what happens in every case and that’s what has happened here.

“There are no new mines, they are all extensions of existing operations.

“All the mines produce minerals essential for producing steel for things such as homes, bridges, trains, wind farms, solar panels.

“There are currently no feasible renewable alternatives for making steel.”

What a difference a decade makes. pic.twitter.com/eyNm6T1g0f

— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) December 19, 2024

Stuart Bocking, CEO of Coal Australia, said the decision acknowledged the “strong demand” for Australian coal.

“These Commonwealth approvals have been granted against the backdrop of relevant policy positions on emissions and they are an important pointer to the reality of sustained demand, both locally, and globally, for Australian coal,” he told NewsWire on Thursday evening.

He also said the decision would come as a “timely boost” for coal mining communities.

“These approvals are a recognition of the ongoing energy cost and pricing crisis that is impacting average Australians and the only way to tackle that is through the ongoing supply of quality Australian coal,” he said.

Plibersek defended her environmental credentials on the contested issue of coal mining in a social media post on Thursday.

She said Labor had approved zero new coal mines in 2024, compared to the Coalition’s approval of eight new mines while in power in 2014.

“What a difference a decade makes,” she posted.

Originally published as Outrage after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek approves three coal mine extensions