Submission on BHP Caval Ridge Mine Horse Pit Coal Extension in the Bowen Basin: an additional lifetime 440 megatonnes of CO2

Aerial view: existing Caval Ridge mine in the Bowen Basin, Queensland

Submissions for this coal mine extension closed 29 September 2023. The Labor Federal government has already approved 10 new coal or gas projects since coming to power in May 2022. The BHP Caval Ridge Mine Horse Pit Coal Extension is in the approval queue with about 100 other coal and gas projects. 

The Labor Government has promised a refresh of Australia's environmental laws in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC), but those reforms continue  to be deferred. During the Howard government in 2005 Anthony Albanese proposed a Climate Trigger be inserted in the EPBC Act. It failed of course. Labor did not revisit a Climate Trigger amnedment in 2007-2013 when in power with the Rudd and Gillard governments, and has not raised it as a priority in the current term of the Albanese Government.

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s proposes to extend the Caval Ridge Coal Mine and operate it for more than three decades, to 2056. The mine is located  approximately 5 km south west of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin, Queensland. It is an open cut mining operation that supplies hard coking coal product for the export market.

The Proposed Project will extend one of the two pits and will involve extraction and combustion of approximately 15 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of coal.

The proposal aims to commence in 2025 and extend to 2055. The mining schedule indicates extraction of approximately 158.3 million tonnes of coal over the life of the Proposed Project. The total combustion CO2 emissions for the product coal of the Proposed Project is estimated to be 440.64 million tonnes of CO2 added to the atmosphere that will exacerbate global warming.

My submission was one of 147 submissions co-ordinated by the Mackay Conservation Group.

Minister Plibersek and her department are now reviewing public comments about this proposal, alongside the large volume of scientific evidence that  Environment Council of Central Queensland Inc (ECoCeQ)  submitted with its reconsideration request. 

Minister outlines major update to Australian environmental laws and the EPBC Act by end of 2023

Photo: Tanya Plibesek speech

Australia: Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek announces formal response to the Independent Review of Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

 

"At the heart of our reform is a conceptual shift. When we reform our environmental laws, we will take them from being nature negative, where we just manage an overall decline in our environment, to nature positive, where we protect our land and leave it in a better state than we found it." said Plibersek at a Queensland Conservation Council event. 

Major Reforms include: 

• introduction of National Environmental Standards, 
• new system of regional planning, 
• overhaul of environmental offsets, and 
• establishment of an independent Environment Protection Agency. 

New National Environmental Standards will apply to Regional Forestry Agreements, which were previously exempt from EPBC Act regulation. This means threatened species and ecosystems will come back under Federal government regulation.

Climate will be a consideration, but no climate trigger for the amended legislation: 

"proponents of large projects be required to publish their lifetime, domestic carbon dioxide emissions. Proponents will also be required to disclose what they will do to manage or offset their emissions, in line with Australia’s climate targets."