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Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will reassess 18 major coal and gas project proposals following a legal application submitted by a Queensland conservation group.
Key points:
- The conservation group argued the impacts the projects would have on climate change were never properly considered
- Some projects are in development phase, while others are extensions to existing works – but all are yet to be approved
- The decision to reassess, following “careful examination”, is not directly related to whether the projects will be approved
In June, The Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ) wrote to Ms Plibersek, formally requesting that she reconsider how these coal and gas projects had been assessed under federal environment law.
The request asked the minister to consider the broader effects of climate change and how emissions from these projects could damage environments.
Previous environment ministers had already determined on what grounds the proposals needed to be assessed when it came to potential environmental damage, things called "matters of national environmental significance".
The reconsideration request argued the impacts of the emissions that these projects would have on climate change weren't properly considered in those prior decisions, and the projects needed to be assessed for likely damage to 2,121 matters of national environmental significance, including the Great Barrier Reef, koalas and dugongs.
On Thursday, Ms Plibersek accepted that ECoCeQ's application was properly submitted.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Ms Plibersek said: "After careful examination the department has decided that each request is valid as it meets the requirements."
"As this is a legal process, and the minister is the decision maker, she is unable to make public comment at this time."
Ms Plibersek is now required to reconsider whether those thousands of environmental matters are likely to be damaged by the projects via their effect on climate change.
More coal and gas 'adds fuel to the fire': environmentalist
None of the projects — including proposals by Whitehaven, Woodside and Clive Palmer's Waratah Coal — have yet been approved.
The application relates to how they will be assessed, not directly to whether or not they should be approved.
Members of the public have now been invited to comment on the reconsideration requests and have until November 24 to do so.
"Until now, former environment ministers failed to take climate change into account when considering which animals, plants and places could be harmed by a coal or gas proposal," ECoCeQ president Christine Carlisle said.
"Assessing the risks and harm of new coal or gas should account for all the evidence, including how it would contribute to climate breakdown."
Environmental Justice Australia principle lawyer Hollie Kerwin said the applications were intentionally chosen to represent environments across the continent.
"There are proposals to dig up more coal, bids to stay open for decades longer, and to drill major new gas wells," she said.
"The science is clear: more coal and gas would just be adding fuel to the fire we need to put out."
A Woodside Energy spokeswoman said it was "aware" of the Government's reconsideration process and intended to provide a submission "in due course".
Whitehaven, Waratah Coal and the gas industry lobby group APPEA were all approached for comment.