The Federal Court has dismissed the case brought against the Federal Government by WPSQ Whitsunday Branch with assistance from EDO Qld and EDO-NQ, which involved two large mines in the Bowen basin that were scheduled to produce 48 million tonnes of coal over 15 years, equivalent to about 25% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions in a total year and worth $3.5 billion to the economy.

However, an application for an extension of the coal mine at Isaac Plains has been withdrawn because the mine owner's referral documentation sent to the Environment Department did not take account of greenhouse gas emissions. The fresh referral is likely to address this issue.

The case involved applications by Queensland Coal to open two large mines in the Bowen Basin that were estimated to be likely to produce 48M t of coal over the next 15 years.

His Honour Justice Dowsett not only found against the Whitsunday Branch in his 15 June 2006 judgement, he also awarded costs against the incorporated branch. The implications of this judgement for the future of the branch are unclear at this time.

A summary of the case can be found at EDO-NQ's website.

Background to Whitsunday Branch's case

Wildlife Queensland's Whitsunday Branch objected to the application of two new coal mines in the Bowen Basin on the grounds of the mines' damaging impacts, both locally and in the longer term. The branch's objections included:

• both proposed mine sites were in protected ecological communities of Brigalow and Blue Grass
• the sites were in habitats of the squatter pigeon, a listed threatened species
• the coal's use would increase the incidence of global warming
• mining the coal and its use would increase the level of greenhouse gas emissions
• this global effect would in turn damage the World Heritage values of the Great Barrier Reef (through coral bleaching), Heard Island and Macquarie Island.

All of these objections were made under the provisions of the EPBC Act 1999.

In May 2005, the federal minister for the Environment, Hon Ian Campbell, approved the proposal for the two mines unconditionally. As an objector, The Branch exercised its legal right to ask Campbell for his Statement of Reasons for allowing the proposal.

The Statement of Reasons contained no reference to the issue of greenhouse gas emissions, which are specifically listed as threatening under the EPBC Act.

The Branch President, Ian Lee, on behalf of the branch, approached the Environmental Defenders Office and they supported his belief that there was a case to be made that the Minister had erred in unconditionally approving the mine proposals.

The case was taken to the federal court under the Administrative Decisions Judicial Review Act in October 2005 before Justice Dowsett.

For more information about the poultry shed grant scheme and other activities, contact Wildlife Queensland by email or call +61 7 3221 0194.