The NSW Land and Environment Court鈥檚 decision to refuse the Rocky Hill coalmine near Gloucester on February 8 is ground breaking. For the first time in legal history, the impact of a new coalmine on climate change was a determining factor in refusing consent.
It is the result of years of work by the community in the Upper Hunter, as well as others campaigning for a safe climate.
Groundswell Gloucester chairperson Julie Lyford was ecstatic about the judgement, which had saved the community from a 250-metre-deep open cut coalmine less than 1 kilometre from family homes. She said the Court posed a foundational question for all future fossil fuel projects: 鈥渢he wrong time鈥 test.
Groundswell Gloucester also successfully fought off AGL鈥檚 bid to develop coal seam gas mines in the valley three years ago.
Lyford, a former Gloucester mayor, there 鈥渉ad been so much angst鈥 over the CSG and coal mines in the region. She said that licences for coal and gas 鈥渉ad been handed out like confetti鈥 by the previous state Labor government and that the departments of planning, environment and resources have to stop promoting mining over other interests.
The Environmental Defenders Office NSW (EDO NSW) represented Groundswell Gloucester, which had secured approval last April to join the case. EDO NSW argued the mine was contrary to the public interest and principles of ecologically sustainable development because of its significant social and climate change impacts. Chief Justice Brian Preston agreed.
Preston stated: 鈥淭he Project will be a material source of GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions and contribute to climate change. Approval of the Project will not assist in achieving the rapid and deep reductions in GHG emissions that are needed now in order to 鈥 achieve the generally agreed goal of limiting the increase in global average temperature to well below 2oC above pre-industrial levels.鈥
The NSW Department of Planning had already rejected Gloucester Resources Limited鈥檚 development application in October 2017, citing the negative impact it would have on the nearby town and its people. Back then, its impact on climate change was not a consideration.