Media Release, July 6th 2007
Anvil Hill Project Watch Association
The landmark legal challenge to the Anvil Hill coal mine took another step forward yesterday, with the Federal Court setting a hearing date of August 22nd 2007.
The Environmental Defender's Office (EDO) is acting on behalf of the Anvil Hill Project Watch Association (AHPWA) against the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Centennial Hunter Pty Ltd.
The case challenges the Federal Minister of Environment and Water Resources's decision that the Anvil Hill Coal Mine is not a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Under the EPBC Act the Minister is required to consider whether a development will pose a significant impact on World Heritage Areas and threatened species, amongst other considerations.
AHPWA will argue that the Minister made errors in considering the contribution the mine will make to climate change and consequent implications for World Heritage Areas like the Great Barrier Reef and the Blue Mountains Wilderness Area.
A further element of the case is that AHWPA will seek to have independent experts undertake flora studies within the proposed mine disturbance area. These studies will establish the extent and size of the threatened Diuris tricolor orchid population, and determine if the Critically Endangered Ecological Community "White Box-Yellow Box - Blakely's Redgum Grassy Woodlands and Derived Native grasslands" is present.
Ms Christine Phelps, AHPWA President, today said: "We welcome the opportunity to have the court review if the Minister made the correct decision. Anvil Hill is a huge open cut coalmine development and it will contribute to global warming that will have long lasting impacts on our World Heritage Areas, let alone our planet."
For more information contact:
Ms Christine Phelps, President AHPWA, on 0418 478 011, or
Ms Kirsty Ruddock, Environmental Defender's Office, on 9262-6989