Media release from Environmental Advocacy Central Queensland (Enva-CQ). Read the full media release on their website

The Queensland Government has quietly approved a new coal mine in Central Queensland that would clear 770 hectares of habitat for the endangered koala, without requiring an Environmental Impact Statement. The Vulcan South coal mine in the Bowen Basin is one of several new coal mine proposals in Queensland that the Queensland Government is not requiring Environmental Impact Statements for, because they fall marginally short of the apparently arbitrary threshold that triggers the EIS process. 

Vitrinite plans to mine 13.5 million tonnes of coal over a nine year period at a rate of 1.95 million tonnes of coal each year, just below the two million tonnes per annum production rate that triggers the requirement for an EIS in Queensland. Because there is no requirement for an EIS, there is also no requirement for the company to provide greenhouse gas emissions estimates for the project.

Vitrinite now has approval to clear 770ha of koala habitat, 39 ha of endangered greater glider habitat, 36 ha of vulnerable glossy black cockatoo habitat, and 1024 ha of vulnerable squatter pigeon habitat for this coal mine. The government claims this habitat, as well as the can be mitigated through offsets and rehabilitating lost habitat once coal mining is completed. 

This is the first new coal Queensland coal mine approval since Steven Miles became premier, however it is unlikely to be the last, with Whitehaven’s Winchester South expected to be approved, after it received the coordinator general’s go ahead last year. The Guardian reported on Vulcan South’s potential impact on koalas and greater gliders and the project’s evasion of EIS scrutiny when Vitrinite applied for an Environmental Authority in 2022.

Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland director Dr Coral Rowston said:

“This is a terrible outcome for Queensland’s koalas and climate. The Queensland Government’s approval of the Vulcan South coal mine will fast track the decline of Central Queensland’s already struggling koala population and make climate change worse.  

“The large area of habitat to be lost to the coal project undermines efforts to protect koala habitat elsewhere and the project will exacerbate climate change, a key threat to the koala. 

“This coal mine will also place other threatened species who call the local area home, like the greater glider and glossy black cockatoo, under even more pressure.

“This is a reckless decision by the Queensland Government, but the Vulcan South coal mine still needs approvals under federal environment laws before it can proceed. Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek can, and must, do better than the Queensland Government and make good on her commitment to no new extinctions by refusing the Vulcan South coal mine and protecting this important area of Central Queensland koala habitat.”