Two retired teachers win coal expansion fight in Australia’s highest court

Two retired science teachers have won a years-long fight against the expansion of a major Australian coal mine. Australia’s highest court ruled that planning authorities had not done enough to limit the project’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to Al Jazeera. The decision stops an expansion that would have nearly doubled Mount Pleasant’s annual output and kept the open-cut mine operating until 2048.

Wendy Wales and Tony Lonergan brought the case after campaigning against the project in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley. In the October 7 ruling, three of the High Court’s five judges found that the expansion must be halted. The majority said authorities could grant approval only with conditions ensuring that all greenhouse gas emissions — gases that warm the planet — were reduced as far as practicable. That requirement had not been met.

A growth plan meets a climate test

For operator Mach Energy, the decision blocks a substantial extension of the mine’s planned life. The company had sought more than 20 additional years of operation, alongside the increase in annual production. Mach is owned by Droxford International, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s Salim Group. The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission had initially approved the proposal before campaigners challenged it.

The dispute centred on how far responsibility for a mine’s emissions extends. Mach argued that coal shipped abroad and burned overseas could not be clearly connected to environmental effects around the mine. The campaigners took the opposite view: every addition to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increased the likelihood of bushfires, floods and drought. Wales said the consequences of exporting coal could not be separated from the decision to extract it.

Lonergan framed the judgment as a change in the way projects must be assessed, rather than an immediate end to coal mining. His argument was that approval decisions must take account of the damage those projects cause, including through their contribution to climate change.

“This isn’t the end of coal overnight. But it is the end of coal mine approvals that look the other way on climate.” — Tony Lonergan

The next test is how the ruling is applied

Environmental campaigners described the decision as a binding national precedent — a ruling they say must guide later decisions — requiring climate damage to be considered when fossil fuel projects are assessed. That is their interpretation of its wider reach. The court’s finding in this case concerned the failure to attach conditions that would minimise emissions as far as practicable.

Anita O’Hart, a lawyer for Wales and Lonergan’s community group, said the judgment confirmed that planning bodies could not disregard the link between project emissions and local climate harm. She expected courts and planning authorities throughout Australia to apply it, and said it would attract international study. The implications matter beyond one mine: Australia ranks among the world’s biggest exporters of both coal and liquefied natural gas, gas cooled into liquid form for transport.

Mach Energy said it was disappointed but accepted the decision. It also said it would pursue all available options to keep Mount Pleasant operating over the long term. The next developments to watch are the operator’s response and how planning authorities handle emissions conditions when considering future fossil fuel projects.