The objection against the A$6 billion ($6.3 billion) Wandoan mine was filed by environmental group Friends of the Earth and landowners, and comes amid increasing resistance to Australia’s coal industry from green campaigners. According to Reuters, the Land Court of Queensland said climate change on its own was not a good enough reason to justify refusing Xstrata a mining lease and that the economic benefits of the mine should also be taken into account. The case against the 22 million metric tons per year open-cut Wandoan coal mine is the first to use climate change as the primary argument against development.

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