David vs Goliath Case starts in Queensland

A landmark case in Australia’s environmental history will begin in Brisbane on Monday when environment group Friends of the Earth take on global mining giant Xstrata in a bid to have a proposed mega coal mine in Queensland rejected.

The court case will be the first ever in Australia to argue exclusively for outright refusal of a coal mine based on climate change impacts.

“If not rejected, Xstrata will be given the green light to build the biggest mine in the southern hemisphere,” Friends of the Earth spokesperson Dr Bradley Smith said.

“It will destroy 11 000 hectares of irreplaceable farmland, have a detrimental effect on farmers in the region, and have catastrophic impacts on the climate through coal burning.”

Swiss owned Xstrata is proposing to establish the mine just 600 metres out of the small town of Wandoan, 400 kms north west of Brisbane, which would extract 30 million tonnes of coal each year, and create 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution.

“This mega mine will be one of the largest coal mines in the world, and contribute a sizable 0.15% of annual global emissions every year,” Dr Smith said.

“This might sound like a small number, but in fact it’s the equivalent to the combined emissions of 72 countries around the world[1], and roughly equivalent to the fossil fuel emissions of New Zealand.[2]

“Allowing this mine to go ahead would cause severe and long-term adverse environmental impacts due to the large emission of greenhouse gases.

“We have engaged some of the world’s leading climate change experts as witnesses to assist the Queensland Land Court in understanding our climate change case. 

“Taking on a billion dollar monolith like Xstrata is no mean feat, however it’s a fight worth having.  The slow creeping impacts from climate change will have a significant impact on Australia’s future; establishing new mines and burning more fossil fuels is a backward step for our country.”

[1] From 2007 Millennium Development Goals Indicators at http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/SeriesDetail.aspx?srid=749&crid

[2] From U.S. Energy Information Administration 2009, New Zealand Country Analysis Brief, available at http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=NZ