A recent decision in the NSW Land and Environment Court explored
considerations involved in determining approval for a proposed coal
mine such as the emissions of greenhouse gases and the effect that
has on climate change, the impacts on existing, approved and likely
preferred uses of land in the vicinity and the social implications
it would have on the nearby towns and the Aboriginal community.
Background
The NSW Land and Environment Court recently refused development
consent for an open cut coal mine in Gloucester Resources
Limited v Minister for Planning [2019] NSWLEC 7. Gloucester
Resources Limited (GRL) lodged a development
application under the Environmental Planning and Assessment
Act 1979 (the EP&A Act) for consent to
carry out the Rocky Hill Coal Project (Project) in
2012. The Project proposed to extract 2.5 million tonnes per year
of run-of-mine (ROM) coal from a new open cut mine
located in Gloucester, and construction of a coal handling and
preparation
