A FEDERAL Court case hailed by environmentalists as "an historic victory" has been dismissed by the Minerals Council of Australia", which says it does not affect the approval of the mine it was fought over.
In what has been hailed as another legal blow to the coal industry, the Federal Court yesterday declared that Australia's environment minister had a duty of care to protect children from "personal injury or death" from "emissions of carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere".
The case brought by eight teenagers with a Melbourne Catholic nun as their legal guardian challenged plans by Whitehaven Coal to reopen the Vickery mine at Gunnedah.
The NSW government has allowed production to double from 4.5 million tonnes to 10 million tonnes of coal a year, but the students criticise it for adding 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
They lodged their case last September, seeking an injunction to stop Environment Minister Sussan Ley from approving the mine under federal environment laws.
Justice Mordecai Bromberg dismissed the injunction application in May, while finding that Vickery would make a "tiny but measurable" contribution to global warming. At the same time he said the environment minister had a duty of care "not to cause the children personal injury when exercising her power".
After further submissions from the students, the government and Whitehaven, which joined the case, Justice Bromberg handed down yesterday's "personal injury or death" declaration and ordered the government to pay full costs.
Lawyer for the students, David Barnden, said it was an "historic outcome", while Ms Ley's office said the government would review the judgement and assess its options.
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