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Category: Mining (Rural) / Mining Environmental Issues / Mining Industry / Environment

Koala activists fail in court bid against coal mine

Friday, 19 Feb 2016 08:30:53

A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying an communication technology experimental satellite prepares to be launched at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 12. The satellite will be mainly used to conduct a test on Ka frequency band in broadband communication.

The Shenhua Watermark coal mine has cleared its final legal hurdle after legal action against it was dismissed.

The Land and Environment Court threw out a challenge from the Upper Mooki community group, which argued the project was too great a threat to local koala populations.

The Chinese-backed mine, planned for New South Wales' Liverpool Plains region, was approved by the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) last year.

The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) represented the Upper Mooki in the appeal against the development consent, arguing the PAC did not follow due process in considering the impact on koala habitat.

After the judgment, EDO chief executive Sue Higginson said the PAC may have followed the law, but the law needed changing.

The company argued its plan to move 262 koalas over the life of the mine was reviewed by academics at Melbourne and Sydney universities.

Shenhua paid $300 million for an exploration licence covering 20,000 hectares of the Gunnedah basin coal field in 2008.

Government sources recently told the ABC there were doubts about whether the project would proceed.

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