1 March 2021

A class action against a coal mine extension...could make it more difficult for coal mines to be approved in Australia on the basis of intergenerational equity and climate change, if the claimants prove successful.

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The students argue that Australia’s Environment Minister Susan Ley has a duty of care to protect them from climate change and the expansion of Whitehaven Coal’s Vickery coal mine in New South Wales state will contribute to climate change and endanger their future.

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The Vickery open-cut coal mine would produce mostly metallurgical coal for steel-making as well as some higher grade thermal coal and is waiting on final approval from the minister.

It would create 450 ongoing jobs during operations with a net A$1.2 billion ($930 million) state economic benefit, Whitehaven estimates.

“Our position in relation to the litigation...is that the legal claim has no merit and should be dismissed,” Managing Director and CEO Paul Flynn said in a statement.

“As the Australian economy starts to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, it is vital that major employment-generating investments in the economy are not delayed by legal claims that have no substance.”

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