"Unfathomable" - NSW Gives Final Approval To Coal Mine Expansion, Another 500 Million Tons Of Carbon

[hatrack]

A $400m coalmine expansion that would result in almost half a billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions has been conditionally approved by New South Wales planning authorities. The NSW independent planning commission (IPC) has given final approval to Whitehaven’s expansion of its Narrabri underground coalmine in the state’s north-west.

Environment groups and Namoi valley farmers said they were incensed by the decision which comes after public hearings were told by the Lock the Gate Alliance and opponents of the project in February the mine would become the dirtiest thermal coal project in Australia.

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In its statement of reasons, the commission said it found that Whitehaven’s project was not inconsistent with ecologically sustainable development and “would achieve an appropriate balance between relevant environmental, economic and social considerations”. The commission said it had taken into account the NSW government’s mining and emissions reduction policies and acknowledged the concerns of people opposed to the project, particularly due to the carbon pollution it would cause.

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The climate spokesperson for the NSW Greens, Cate Faehrmann, said it “beggars belief that as NSW is bearing the brunt of floods, the scale and frequency of which we’ve never experienced before, another massive coalmine gets approved in NSW”. Justin Field, an independent MLC, said the commission’s decision was “unfathomable given the catastrophic climate driven events of the last month”. He said the NSW Coalition government’s planning, mining and climate policies, made projects like this possible. “The fact new coal mining can be approved out to 2044 under existing policy makes a mockery of the government’s 50% by 2030 and net zero by 2050 climate targets.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/01/unfathomable-narrabri-coalmine-expansion-gets-final-approval-from-nsw-planning-commission

[femmedem]

1. It's so wrong that the international community has no power to limit countries' carbon output.

We need an international body with binding authority to approve or reject plans like this. Otherwise, each country will act in its own short-term best interest and doom all of us to extinction.