Sydney: Australia’s centre-left Labor government said Friday it will approve a new coal mine for the first time since it won power a year ago, sparking an angry reaction from environmental groups.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government said it would authorise Bowen Coking Coal’s Isaac River mine project in Queensland to extract metallurgical coal for making steel.
Though relatively small in scale, it is the first new coal mine to be given the go-ahead by the government, which swayed many voters by promising to slash planet-warming carbon emissions after a decade of Australian foot-dragging on climate action.
“The Albanese government has to make decisions in accordance with the facts and the national environment law — that’s what happens on every project, and that’s what’s happened here,” said a spokesperson for Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.
“Since the election we’ve doubled renewable energy approvals to a record high,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“The government will continue to consider each project on a case-by-case basis, under the law.”
A public consultation on the coal project had attracted no submissions, the government said.
The Australian Conservation Foundation said green-lighting the project ignored climate science.
“The world’s climate scientists have all been crystal clear for years that we must immediately stop digging up and burning coal if we want a safe climate,” said Gavan McFadzean, a climate expert with the foundation.
“Wherever in the world our coal and gas is burnt, it makes climate damage in Australia worse. More flooding, longer heatwaves, worse bushfires.”
Bowen Coking Coal welcomed the decision.
“We’re here to meet the growing demand for energy and steelmaking coal,” executive chairman Nick Jorss said in a statement.
Australia’s economy is fuelled by mining and coal exports — and it is among the world’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide per capita.
Heavy storms in 2022 caused catastrophic floods on Australia’s east coast, in which more than 20 people died.
The “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019-2020 burned more than eight million hectares of native vegetation, while marine heatwaves caused mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, 2017 and 2020.
