Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland Proserpine/Whitsunday Branch v Minister for the Environment and Heritage
COURT OR TRIBUNAL
Federal Court of Australia
DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)
21/05/2006
LITIGATION TYPE
Project Approval - Mitigation
SUBJECT MATTER
Coal mine
REVIEW TYPE
Judicial review
SUMMARY
The Wildlife Preservation Society (WPS) argued that the proposals for two new coal mines had to be assessed under federal environment protection legislation, the EPBC Act, because they were likely to have significant (and adverse) impacts on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). WPS argued the emissions produced from burning the coal harvested from the mines would contribute to climate change, which would damage the GBR. The Court rejected the application for review on the grounds that the EPBC Act required the Minister to address impact of proposed mines, 'not the impact of the worldwide burning of coal'. The threats to the Great Barrier Reef were the result of cumulative emissions, not just the emissions from the burning of coal extracted from the proposed mines. Dowsett J was sceptical of arguments concerning a causal link between coal mining activities and damage to ecosystems through climate change (see [72]), writing "The applicant's case is really based upon the assertion that greenhouse gas emission is bad, and that the Australian government should do whatever it can to stop it including, one assumes, banning new coal mines in Australia."
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