Australia rejects new coal mine on environmental grounds

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has for the first time rejected a coal mining application based on environmental law. The government is under pressure to block all new coal and gas extraction projects in the interest of curbing climate change. But Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said Thursday she would decide individual projects on their merits. On Wednesday, Plibersek announced her decision to prevent excavation of the Central Queensland Coal Project less than 6 miles from the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast Australian coast. Plibersek says the risk of “pollution and irreversible damage to the reef is very real.”