Environmental Groups Dismayed Over Labor Government’s Approval of Four Coal Mines Expansion

Vitrinite’s Vulcan South is a subject of criminal investigation for alleged illegal land clearing of 47 hectares of koala habitat.

Coal is unloaded onto large piles at the Ulan Coal mines near the central New South Wales rural town of Mudgee in Australia, on March 8, 2018. David Gray/Reuters

The Albanese government’s decision to approve the expansion of four coal mines has earned the ire of environmentalists groups, which they say are contrary to the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek approved the expansion of the Vulcan South, Caval Ridge, and Lake Vermont coal mines in Queensland and the Boggabri coal mine in NSW.