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Australian Teenagers Take on Mining Giant Over Expansion Plans

Phil Mercer

   SYDNEY - Forthe first time in Australia, teenagers have launched a
   class-actionlawsuiton behalf of young people around the world to stop
   the extension of a coal minein the state of New South Wales.

   Anxietyover global warming is driving this teenage campaign to stop the
   expansion ofacoal mine near Gunnedah, 430kilometers northwest of
   Sydney,in the state of New South Wales.The class-actionlawsuitasserts
   that Australia's Environment Minister Sussan Ley,has a legal duty to
   protect young people and should reject the proposal.

   The claimants are betweenthe ages of13 and 17.They argue that by
   burning coal, climate change will be made worse, harming their
   future.Rather than making the claim under environmental legislation,
   the case asserts the Australian government has a common law duty of
   care.

   The high school students filed an injunction Tuesday in Australia's
   Federal Court.

   Theexpansionhas been approved by anindependentplanningcommission,
   whichruled the project was in the public interest, but the final
   decision rests with federal authorities.Thefederal governmenthas not
   commented on the lawsuit because the matter is before the courts.

   Sixteen-year-old Laura Kirwan is one of the teenage plaintiffs.She told
   the Australian Broadcasting Corp. how she was scared about the future.

   "I am really worried.Like, climate anxiety, it affectsmeand I know
   many, many people that it affects.It is really,really scaryto think
   about the future and not know whether we will have a safe time.I am
   involved in this case because climate change isreally importantand is
   only getting worse.I think that it is really important that the federal
   environment minister is aware that she should be protecting the younger
   generations,"Kirwan said.

   Whitehaven Coal, the resources company behind the mine expansion, has
   said it would bring social and economic benefits to the region,
   including up to 450 jobs and millions of dollars in direct capital
   investment.It has not yet commented on the lawsuit.

   Legal experts believe that,given its complexity,the casewill betoughfor
   the high school students to win.If they do, it could have huge
   ramifications for other new coal mines in Australia, whichis one of the
   world's major coal producers, selling mostly to India, China and Japan.

   In 2019,coalexports were worth about $50 billion.However, theReserve
   Bank of Australia has previously noted that there are "some
   uncertainties for the longer-term outlook for coal exports" because of
   the shift to renewable energy and the "pace of global economic growth."

   Australia relies on cheap supplies of domestic coal to generate much of
   itselectricity andis one of the world's biggest per capita emitters of
   greenhouse gas pollution.

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