Hunter Environment Lobby Inc v Minister for Planning

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

New South Wales Land and Environment Court

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

15/11/2010

LITIGATION TYPE

Project Approval - Mitigation

SUBJECT MATTER

Coal mine

REVIEW TYPE

Merits review

SUMMARY

Hunter Environment lobby challenged the Minister for Planning's approval of certain coal mining activities at the Ulan Coal Mine which would result in a doubling of the mine's approved production rate with consequential environmental impacts on groundwater, biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions. The Court granted approval to the activities subject to conditions, to be negotiated between the parties. The Court indicated that the mine operator would be required to offset its scope 1 emissions. This would have been the first time a court has ordered a climate change offset in Australia.

Following the first judgment, the Court considered the appropriate conditions to impose on mining activities at a coal mine which would double the amount of coal produced by the mine. The Court declined to impose the offset condition that it had considered in the first hearing because since the first hearing the Clean Energy Act was enacted setting up the carbon pricing mechanism. The Court found that most of the mine's activities which would result in scope 1 emissions would be covered by the carbon pricing mechanism and therefore an offset condition would not be necessary. The Court also expressed concerns about the integrity of the carbon offsets market.

CASE DOCUMENTS

Hunter Environment Lobby Inc v Minister for Planning [2011] NSWLEC 221
Hunter Environment Lobby Inc v Minister for Planning (No 2) [2012] NSWLEC 40