From The Australian:
Indian energy giant Adani’s $16 billion Carmichael mine is likely to be locked up in litigation until at least 2017, with a wave of looming legal action orchestrated by green groups as part of an anti-coal campaign.
Despite the Abbott government moving to restrict conservationists from using the courts to stop major projects, the mega-mine in Queensland’s burgeoning Galilee Basin coal province faces three more Federal Court challenges and is awaiting the outcome of an appeal in the state’s Land Court.
Conservationists have already touted filing for another Federal Court judicial review if Environment Minister Greg Hunt issues a renewed approval to the mine, after his approval was set aside this month in a consent order.
An indigenous group, which is being bankrolled by conservationists and has a native title claim on the proposed mine site, has also filed for a judicial review of the National Native Title Tribunal’s decision granting mining licences for the project.
Given the global glut and worsening prospects for thermal coal the project is completely irrational and will only displace other coal mining jobs.
Green group intervention is an odd way to deliver economic sense but I’ll take it.
