Coal mining company New Hope has received regulatory approval for the expansion of its New Acland Stage 3 project in Queensland, Australia.
The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection released a draft authority for the $900m project.
The 68-page draft released by the environmental authority sets down 137 strict conditions revolving around key environmental matters such as water, air quality and noise and nearly an additional 1000 commitments to uphold.
The project is expected to expand the Acland mine’s annual output from 4.8 million tonnes to 7.5 million tonnes, and it is also expected to generate 435 full-time jobs for locals at the New Acland mine, near Oakey on the Darling Downs.
Queensland Resource Council chief executive Michael Roche said: "We fully expect all of the green activists’ bag of tricks will be deployed against the continuation of the New Acland Mine and the hundreds of jobs for locals it can deliver.
"Co-author of the anti-coal strategy document, "Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom", Drew Hutton of Lock the Gate, has called on the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) to get involved.
"This is no more than a variation on the activists’ ‘disrupt and delay’ strategy, using litigation, to hold up coal projects."