Coal news and updates

State's Upper Hunter region's coal mine expansion has received planning commission approval

Australia: In the state's Upper Hunter region, a coal mine expansion that will generate about 1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions has been approved by the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission.

This option will enable MACH Energy to extend the life of the Mount Pleasant mine to 2048 and double its production to 21 million tonnes annually.

The Lock the Gate Alliance criticized the election as "reckless and irresponsible" and called for a national strategy for large-scale projects that took the climate crisis into account when assessing.

During its operation, the project will emit 876 megatons of carbon dioxide, of which 860 megatons will come from emissions due to the sale and use of coal, mostly overseas.

Nick Clyde, coordinator of Lock the Gate in NSW, said: "It's insane that an appraisal authority like the IPC could wave through a coal mine that would be solely responsible for 876 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, as humanity faces a climate disaster." is on the verge of it." ,

The Paris Agreement calls on countries to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, but the project is the largest coal mine expansion approved in the state since that call, and is completely inconsistent with that commitment.

The coalition urged the federal minister of environment and water, Tanya Plibersek, to oppose the project. The minister still has to decide whether the project should go ahead.

It follows the introduction of legislation by the Greens that would add "climate triggers" to existing national environmental laws, which prohibit developments that emit more than 100,000 tons of carbon.

Additionally, a federal assessment of developments that emit 25,000 to 100,000 tons of carbon would be required.

According to Wendy Wells of Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scion Healthy Environment Group, the expansion is "another nail in the coffin of our local environment" and has resulted in additional critically endangered habitats and corridors used by regionally threatened wildlife. There will be loss.