A serious coal mine that was the topic of a landmark court docket battle fought on local weather change and human rights grounds has been denied an environmental licence.
The Clive Palmer-backed Waratah mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin had its environmental authority utility rejected on Monday.
The determination by the Queensland Department of Environment follows a Land Court advice in November to refuse each the environmental authority and mining lease functions
The thermal coal venture needs to be rejected as a result of it “risks unacceptable climate change impacts” on the setting and on human rights, the court docket dominated.
Land Court President Fleur Kingham discovered that despite the fact that the mine was supposed for exports, “wherever the coal is burnt the emissions will contribute to environmental harm, including in Queensland”.
The listening to occurred over seven weeks starting in April final yr, and included proof taken on-country within the Torres Strait and Cairns.
It was the primary time a Queensland court docket has suggested a coal mine needs to be refused resulting from its contribution to local weather change, and the primary time an Australian court docket has linked local weather change to human rights.
There are not any overview or enchantment rights below Queensland’s Environmental Protection Act for the division’s determination, nonetheless a judicial overview may be utilized for by way of the Supreme Court.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
