AFTER 11 long months an appeal lodged by Rio Tinto and the NSW Planning Department to allow the expansion of Warkworth open cut coal mine has been dismissed by the NSW Supreme Court.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The decision was delivered quickly and concisely by the Court of Appeal president, Justice Margaret Beazley however the implications of the decision may take some time to fully comprehend.
The appeal was lodged in July last year following a decision in April 2013 by the NSW Land and Environment Court’s Chief Justice Brian Preston to disallow the Warkworth mine expansion.
Leading the challenge to the Warkworth mine expansion was the Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association (BMPA) with their legal representatives coming from the NSW Environment Defenders Office.
On Monday the group was elated by the Supreme Court’s decision but equally dismayed that they may be facing another long, legal challenge to the two new development applications by Rio Tinto to expand their Mount Thorley and Warkworth mines.
The company has already clearly stated the new applications, which are yet to be formally lodged with the Department of Planning, are substantially the same as the one rejected first by the Land and Environment Court and now the Supreme Court.
“The judgement proves once again that the expansion of the Warkworth mine is a bad idea,” said John Krey, from the Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association.
“The costs of the mine outweigh the benefits, as the court has upheld.
“Yet the mining company and the NSW Planning Department are making a mockery of fair procedure and the rule of law by simply restarting the approval process for the mine, and shutting the courts out of the new process.”
Mr Krey added that BMPA now faced the likelihood that the Warkworth coal mine expansion will go ahead, despite two courts ruling that it shouldn't.
“The NSW Planning Department is colluding with Rio Tinto to ensure this mine project is approved regardless of the costs to the community and the environment,” he said.
The new applications will be assessed under new mining approval regulations known as the State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP Resource Significance) 2013.
This policy is considered to give priority to the significance of a coal resource over the impacts of mining.
According to the BMPA if the new applications are approved, the Bulga community will not be able to appeal to the courts to review the decision.
In a statement from the NSW Minister for Planning and infrastructure Brad Hazzard it said the Government will consider the implications of the Court of Appeal decision on Rio Tinto’s Warkworth project application.
“The mining sector told us that recent court decisions, including the Land and Environment Court decision, had created uncertainty,” Mr Hazzard said.
“The Government joined in the appeal on procedural grounds.”
“In NSW all major mining projects are comprehensively assessed on their merits with extensive consultation with the community and other Government agencies.”
NSW Resources and Energy Minister Anthony Roberts said mining supports thousands of families across the state.
“The significance of a resource is not determined by mining companies but by the Department of Resources and Energy,” Mr Roberts said.