The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) and Lock the Gate Alliance said Glencore and Yancoal’s decision to withdraw one of two open cut coal mine expansions in the Hunter Valley is good news, but not the end of the matter.
HVO Continuation Project North and South was seeking approval from NSW and federal governments to mine an additional 780 million tonnes of thermal coal over 25 years, to 2050.
Hunter Environment Lobby (HEL) spokesperson Jan David said the fight is not over as the companies are expected to resubmit a new plan for one of its projects.
HEL initiated legal action in the Federal Court to try and overturn Glencore/Yancoal’s Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) North Project on the basis that the climate impacts on the Great Barrier Reef had not been considered.
Before the case was heard, however, HVO announced it was withdrawing its federal application and submitting an amended plan.
Glencore/Yancoal are the largest thermal coal mining and export companies to operate in Australia. HVO is licensed to extract 42 million tonnes of coal each year.
NSW government agencies are concerned that the emissions of direct greenhouse gases, particularly methane, including a spike after 2040, especially as NSW is not on track to meet its 2030 and 2035 targets “without further action by Government and the private sector”.
The government’s planning department told HVO that if this project proceeded all other sectors of the economy would likely have to reduce emissions more quickly to make up for it. NSW has signed up to net zero emissions by 2050.
Steve Phillips from Hunter Renewal said communities in the Hunter have been “calling for a region-wide plan for our economy and our landscape post-coal for years”.
“We’re asking the NSW government to urgently release the millions of dollars it is sitting on in Royalties for Rejuvenation Funds to rapidly accelerate new economic opportunities and support workers in the Hunter region.”
He said Glencore/Yancoal also needed to rapidly develop a detailed training and transition plan for workers which they have failed to produce for the HVO coal mine.
Lock the Gate Alliance National Coordinator Carmel Flint said HVO’s withdrawal of its federal coal expansion plan “underscores that this was an ill-conceived project from the outset”.
“Australia’s agriculture and manufacturing sectors should not have to shoulder responsibility for greenhouse emissions from export coal mining companies and their expansion plans.”
According to The Australia Institute’s “Coal Mine Tracker”, Glencore/Yancoal’s Ashton and Ravensworth coal mines, which have been given permission, cover an area the size of nearly the entire electorates of Sydney and Grayndler.