Australia's responsibility to consider the greenhouse gas emissions generated by coal exported to other countries will be tested as part of a court hearing starting today against a giant Queensland mine.
Environment group Friends of the Earth Brisbane is challenging the planned Xstrata mine at Wandoan, 350 kilometres west of Brisbane, which is set to be Queensland's biggest single coal producer, and perhaps the biggest in the southern hemisphere.
The export-focused mine has already been given conditional state government approval to mine 30 million tonnes of coal per year for the next 30 years.
Scientists called by FOE as expert witnesses will tell the Queensland Land Court the impact of the greenhouse gases from the burning of the mine's coal will be global in scale, causing global temperatures to rise, thousands of homes to flood and putting the Great Barrier Reef at further risk of collapse.
In statements already filed to the court, Dr Malte Meinhausen, a leading climate researcher from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, states the mine “could cause the extra annual flooding of the settlements and houses of 23,000 people worldwide by the 2080s”.
According to Xstrata's own Environmental Impact Statement, the mining operations and the burning of the mine's coal over 30 years will add more than 1.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
Dr Meinhausen's statement says the emissions are the equivalent of more than seven times the Federal Government's target to cut emissions by five per cent by 2020.
Calculating the impact of those emissions, Dr Meinhausen claims they will push average global sea levels 23 millimetres higher, causing an extra 23,000 people's homes to flood every year.
FOE wants the court to recommend the Queensland Government refuse final approval of Xstrata's mining lease and environmental authority, which are both needed for the mine to go ahead.
Bradley Smith, FOE spokesperson, said: “The impact of the greenhouse gas emissions from this mine will be much larger than from any other mine in Australia.”
Because most of the coal would be exported before it was burned and not counted in Australia's greenhouse accounts, Mr Smith said Xstrata had “no responsibility” for those emissions “and neither does anyone else in Australia”.
“But they are our biggest contribution to climate change. It is reckless to go ahead and build more and more large mines without taking some responsibility for those emissions.”
Mr Smith compared the issue with that of uranium mining, where Australia refuses to export to any country which has not signed the International Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“We recognise that uranium could cause a lot of harm. But with coal mining, there is not even a consideration of the harm that will be caused. That is the link we are trying to build in this case.”
An Xstrata spokesman said the company had followed a “rigorous environmental assessment and review” through each stage of its mining lease application.
“The approvals process includes an ability for any party to object to the granting of the Mining Lease and the Draft Environmental Authority for the Project, prior to the final determination on whether a Mining Lease should be granted.
“Objections have been received on issues including the impacts of mining, greenhouse gas emissions associated with the mining and subsequent burning of the coal, road access to landholder properties, effects on cattle, water arrangements, and the existing state and federal legislative approval processes.”
He said Xstrata Coal had continued to transparently report the emissions profile for the project throughout the approvals and community engagement process.
Emissions from the mine were expected to peak in year 24, at which point the mine's activities would represent 0.08 per cent of Australia's total emissions. But this figure did not include emissions caused by the burning of the coal overseas.
The spokesman added: “We take our responsibility for the reduction of our greenhouse footprint seriously and continue to invest into the development and implementation of carbon capture and low emissions technology locally and globally. We need to ensure the matters to be addressed before the court are practical, and relevant to the mining lease application.”
The court will also hear objections from 10 landholders from the Wandoan area. Mr Smith said the landholders had “real concerns about loss of agricultural land and damage to ground water supplies”.
Representing FOE, Sean Ryan, senior solicitor at Environmental Defenders Office Queensland, said the basis of the objection was that “the mine will increase the likelihood, severity and longevity of global warming” and that by adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere “this makes warming more likely”.
FOE is calling three other expert witnesses: Griffith University Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe, University of Queensland Professor of Marine Studies Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and his father, economist Hans Hoegh-Guldberg.
Professor Hoegh-Guldberg's court statement says the emissions from the mine's coal “represents a very significant contribution to the impacts being felt on the Great Barrier Reef and across a vast number of other ecosystems, agricultural and societal activities and concerns.”
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