The High Court has upheld an appeal against New Acland Coal’s applications to extend the New Acland open-cut coal mine. The applications must now be determined afresh as a result of apprehended bias in the Land Court of Queensland. Read more

A number of provisions of the Environmental Protection Amendment Act 2020 (WA) came into operation on 3 February 2021, following proclamation on 2 February 2021. We briefly touch on some of the noteworthy changes. Read more

On 2 February 2021, President Kingham made orders reducing a mining company’s estimated rehabilitation cost (ERC) by $46 million, after determining that the Department of Environment and Science (DES) ERC calculator is not binding. Read more

The importance of a robust and fit-for-purpose greenhouse gas emissions assessment during environmental impact assessment under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA) was recently highlighted by appeals against the EPA's assessment of the Pilbara Energy Generation Power Station project. Read more

On 14 December 2020, the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources released the consultation paper, "Enhancing Australia's Decommissioning Framework". The paper is the third step in a reform process and follows a Discussion Paper published in October 2018, a process of consultation and stakeholder formal submissions into early 2019. Implementation of the framework is expected to occur in 2021. We have outlined the key components of the proposed Enhanced Framework. Read more

Our prediction: The legal landscape is shifting away from being a roadblock to investment and towards facilitating upward momentum in the development space. Read more

On 30 November 2020. the Western Australian Government released the long awaited ‘Western Australian Climate Policy: A plan to position Western Australian for a prosperous and resilient low-carbon future’. Read more

The settlement this week of Mr McVeigh’s proceeding against REST has underlined management of climate risk and TCFD-aligned disclosure as growing issues for institutional investors. Other recent developments include a further post-approval challenge to a coal mine, asserting that new expert evidence regarding climate change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef should be taken into account to revoke the approval decision and prosecution for import of synthetic greenhouse gas where a single offence attracted an agreed penalty of $500,000. Read more