An environmental group in Australia has sued to halt the construction of Whitehaven Coal’s A$766m ($703m) Maules Creek Coal Project in New South Wales, Australia.
The environmental council has filed a law suit in Sydney Federal Court under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act requesting court to overturn a government approval issued to the project in February 2013.
The Northland Inland Council for the Environment spokesman Phil Spark told Bloomberg that the project has the potential to convert wide areas of forest into an open-cut coal pit.
However, Whitehaven Coal said that it will continue with its plan to construct the mine, despite the legal challenge against the approval.
The legal suit is the latest from the environmental group that are making efforts to discourage mining of coal in certain regions of Australia.
Coast and Country Association of Qld has sued to block plans of GVK Group and Gina Rinehart to build a $10bn coal mine, port and rail project, in February.