Hunter Valley community group wins landmark high court climate change case over coalmine - The Guardian

Johnson Legal Director Elaine Johnson with plaintiffs Tony Lonergan and Wendy Wales reacting to news of the High Court win (credit: Zoe Lonergan)

Lisa Cox and Donna Lu from The Guardian report on the historic High Court win by Johnson Legal clients Wendy and Tony and the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group (DAMSHEG).

Wendy Wales is a retired science teacher and the president of the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group (Dams Heg) – the community group that brought the original case.

“Today the high court has said what we have always known: we cannot dig up coal, ship it overseas, watch it drive climate change, and then pretend the consequences have nothing to do with us and won’t be felt by us,” she said.

“The droughts, the bushfires, the floods – are directly connected to greenhouse gases, and massive fossil fuel projects like Mt Pleasant Optimisation simply add fuel to the fire.”

Wales said the ruling was an acknowledgment that many Australians had “already suffered extreme weather devastation”. She said lawmakers needed to turn their “full attention” to addressing climate change.

Elaine Johnson, director of Johnson Legal, which represented Dams Heg, said the decision confirmed that Australian governments needed to take responsibility for emissions generated by coal exports.

“The court has said that when considering coalmine expansions, our planning authorities must consider how to limit emissions generated from coal burned overseas.

“Given that Australia is the second-largest exporter of coal in the world, this is a very significant judgment.”

Read the full article here.