19 July, 2013
Court action launched to overturn federal approval of Maules Creek and Boggabri mines
Local residents have been forced to take legal action in the federal court due to serious failures in the environmental approval processes for two open-cut coal mines in the state’s north-west, according to the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.
The Whitehaven Maules Creek mine and Boggabri mine were approved by former Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke in the midst of high profile public controversy about the impacts of the mines on Leard State Forest and the nearby community of Maules Creek.
“If allowed to proceed, these mines will tear the heart out of Leard Forest, one of the most important native woodlands west of the Great Dividing Range,” said NCC Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke.
“These mines should never have been approved, and local residents should not be forced to resort to court action to ensure that our federal environmental laws are applied properly.”
The Northern Inland Council for the Environment will argue in court that Minister Burke approved the mines without properly assessing the offset areas proposed as compensation for the thousands of hectares of publicly owned native forest that the mining companies propose to destroy.
Earlier this year, an independent ecologist’s report highlighted serious discrepancies in the biodiversity offsets program proposed for the Maules Creek mine, raising serious concerns about the validity of the information the company provided as part of its application.
“Farmers and conservationists called on the federal government to investigate whether the company had provided false or misleading information to obtain an approval under federal environment law,” Mr Clarke said. “To our knowledge, that investigation has not been completed, and yet Whitehaven has now announced that it has started work on the mine site.”
The ecologist’s report, released in January, found the company had mapped land as endangered White Box Gum woodland in their proposed offsets when it was in fact a totally different vegetation type.
“The Federal Environment Minister granted conditional approval for the mine without knowing whether an adequate offsets package could be provided. By doing so, the minister appears to have failed to uphold the law,” he said.
Leard State Forest is home to at least 26 threatened species, including the Swift Parrot, Turquoise Parrot, Regent Honeyeater, Corben's Long-eared Bat, South-eastern Long-eared Bat, Spotted-tailed, Quoll, Masked Owl, Border Thick-tailed Gecko, Spotted Harrier the Wallaroo and the Koala.
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Coal and gas
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