Environment group mounts legal challenge to stop massive expansion of Queensland coal mine

A proposal to expand a Bowen Basin coal mine that would add millions of additional CO2 emissions, clear endangered species habitat and create risks for the Great Barrier Reef is facing a legal challenge from a Queensland environmental group.

The Queensland Conservation Council (QQC) filed an application with the Queensland Land Court on Tuesday to halt the expansion of the Lake Vermont Meadowbrook Project, citing the impact it would have on endangered koalas, glider and snake species, and its “massive” impact in accelerating climate change.

Bowen Basin Coal Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Jellinbah Group, operates the coal mine and according to its Environmental Impact Assessment disclosed that the project would create 35m tonnes CO2-e in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse emissions, and 313m CO2-e in Scope 3 emissions.

This is in addition to the estimated 12,400,000 CO2-e still to be released from the existing mine.

The application also requests permission to clear 100 hectares of endangered koala and Greater Glider habitat, and over 200 hectares of Ornamental Snake habitat, and will create risks downstream for the Fitzroy Basin and Great Barrier Reef.

Satellite analysis has shown coal mines in the Bowen Basin are massively leaky, with methane and other emissions escaping at greater rates than current government accounting mechanisms have long assumed.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than CO2 when released into the atmosphere over a two-year period.

Dave Copeman, director of the Queensland Conservation Council (QCC), said the legal action was designed to hold the Queensland government “accountable” by “ensuring its decisions follow the science, adhere to our climate targets, and keep Queenslanders safe.”

“The impact from this is very, very large,” Copeland said. “The emissions total is twice what Queensland emits in the year. It’s a significant contribution. It’s enough that it makes our ability to do our fair share to reduce emissions in line with a 1.5C pathway almost impossible.”

Copeland said that the emissions from the mine expansion would make it very hard for Queensland to meet its climate targets and would force other sectors of the economy “to go harder and further to achieve targets”

“The cheapest option is just to keep this coal in the ground,” he said.

Renew Economy contacted the mine operator.

The proposed mine expansion comes amid plans by the recently elected Queensland LNP state government to fast-track coal mine approvals and shut off avenues for community opposition to be raised in a throwback to the Joh Bjelke-Petersen approach to environmental issues.

The application comes amid new research from the US where a team of researchers developed a methodology that they said specific climate harms could be linked to individual companies.

The research found five of the biggest oil and gas producers in the world, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Saudi Aramco and Gazprom were collectively responsible for trillions of dollars for their contribution to heat-related impacts of climate change.

It did not examine other climate-impacts but the researchers say further work could continue to link companies to specific climate impacts such as sea level rise that would tally up.

QCC’s application did not rely on this work to make its case but is a narrow application focussed on environmental and human rights law that draws on precedent set by the Waratah Coal Mine case.