THE Environmental Protection Authority has been ordered by the Supreme Court to hand over its reasons for increasing the amount of acid-producing waste allowed from Shree Minerals' Nelson Bay River mine.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It is another legal victory for environmental group Save the Tarkine, which last year succeeded in having federal approvals for the project quashed, forcing the federal government to reassess and issue fresh approvals.
Save the Tarkine's Scott Jordan said the statement of reasons behind the decision to amend the North-West mine's permit conditions to allow 20 times as much acid-producing waste as originally assessed may provide fresh grounds of appeal against the mine's approval.
``Save the Tarkine will now await the statement of reasons, and then prudently assess whether our concerns with the permit amendment have been addressed before deciding on whether to pursue further challenge,'' Mr Jordan said.
The state government has vowed to tighten third party appeal rights.
Greens environment spokesman Nick McKim said yesterday's Supreme Court decision demonstrated that the planning system was working properly.
``Yet we have a Liberal government which wants to make it impossible for some groups to appeal planning decisions,'' Mr McKim said.
``It might suit the Liberals agenda for dissent to be silenced, but it's our environment and the Tasmanian people who will be the big losers.''
The EPA, which had argued Save the Tarkine was not a relevant party, has until July 2 to release its Statement of Reasons.
