The federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, has granted her first approval to a coalmining project since the federal court found she has a duty of care to protect young people from the climate crisis.
In a decision published late on Friday, Ley approved Wollongong Coal’s application to expand existing underground coalmining at its Russell Vale colliery north of Wollongong.
The project will extract approximately 3.7m tonnes of extra coal over a five-year period.
The decision was criticised by the anti-mining group Lock the Gate, which said the project threatened Sydney’s drinking water catchment and put the health of children, who will face the worst of the climate crisis, at risk.
“This is a terrible decision for Australian children, for the environment and for more than 5 million people who rely on drinking water in the greater Sydney catchment area,” the group’s spokesperson Nic Clyde said. “Sussan Ley has knowingly subjected Australian children to catastrophic climate risks.”
In May, the federal court ruled the environment minister had a common law duty of care to protect younger people against future harm from climate change.
The ruling was made after eight teenagers, led by Melbourne student Anj Sharma and supported by Sister Brigid Arthur, an 86-year-old nun and former teacher, sought an injunction to prevent Ley from approving a proposal by Whitehaven Coal to expand the Vickery coalmine in northern New South Wales.
The case has become known as the Sharma case and Ley has lodged an appeal.
The court did not grant the injunction, but its finding that the minister had a duty of care to not act in a way that would cause future harm to young people was praised as an “amazing decision” with potentially significant consequences.
In a statement of reasons for her decision to approve Wollongong Coal’s project, the minister said the environment department had sought further information from the company about what actions it would take to reduce emissions at the mine and at the steel-making plant in India where the coal would be used.
The statement said Ley considered the federal court’s findings and had given “human safety elevated weight in making my decision”.
Ley wrote that she had found the mine’s expansion was unlikely to lead to an increase in global average surface temperatures, based on advice she received from the department. She said this was because the mine was unlikely to cause more coal to be consumed globally than would be consumed if she refused the project.
She also found the project was unlikely to cause harm to human safety because it was likely that a comparable amount of coal would be consumed in its place if she rejected the development. She concluded that this meant the project would not result in an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions – a finding Lock the Gate labelled “bizarre”.
In response to questions on Friday, Ley said she was carrying out her responsibilities under national environmental laws.
“This approval follows a rigorous assessment process, includes strict environmental protection and has been approved by NSW,” her spokesman said. “The project will make an important contribution to the economy.”
Comment was sought from Wollongong Coal.