Michael Slezak reports in The Guardian (10.4.16): ‘A court case set to begin next month, will pit the Great Barrier Reef against a coalmine. In some ways the battle is entirely new and, in others, merely the next logical step in a 50-year fight. The Australian Conservation Foundation will take the federal environment minister to the federal court, challenging his approval of the Indian company Adani’s enormous Carmichael mine in Queensland. They are alleging he failed to consider the impact the burning of the coal from the mine could have on the reef. It is a landmark case. If the ACF wins, and the mine’s approval is overturned, it would be the first time courts have ruled that the emissions released when coal from a development is burned are a relevant impact under the key piece of federal environmental legislation – the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
- Landmark case may force minister to consider coal’s impact on the reef »
- Climate phoenix report – Grattan Institute »
- Coral Bleaching Taskforce: more than 1,000 km of the Great Barrier Reef has bleached »
- Regulatory failure and the Adani approval »
- Discussion on a green economy – West End 16 April »
- Landmark Rocky Hill ruling could pave the way for more courts to choose climate over coal »