The federal environment department says it may approve a new Queensland coal mine despite launching a criminal investigation into the mine’s potentially illegal clearing of koala habitat and mining coal without federal environmental approvals. Check out the ABC News coverage here.
Four weeks ago the ABC revealed that Queensland coal company Vitrinite had started mining coal and clearing koala habitat at its proposed Vulcan South mine before receiving environmental approval. This week, environment department officials told a Senate hearing they have opened a criminal investigation into whether Vitrinite cleared koala habitat and started mining coal without holding environmental approvals.
The department told Senators that the mine’s approval was progressing and they may grant it approval before completing their criminal investigation.
New drone footage and photos of the site show that coal mining is continuing even though the department is investigating whether that activity is legal. Just weeks after the environment department confirmed it is investigating the matter, they progressed the assessment of the project. The Vulcan South coal mine’s status has been updated on the EPBC assessment website to ‘considering final decision’.
The updated status is a result of the company submitting its final approval documentation to the department, which starts the ‘40 day decision clock’. This means the project could be approved within the next month, despite the company being investigated for commencing the coal mine without holding environmental approvals.
