10/09/2020

(AU) Class Action To Stop Planned Coal Mine Extension Filed By Climate Action-Focused Australian Teenagers

ABC News - Michael Slezak | Penny Timms


Australian teenagers explain why they are seeking an injunction to stop a major coal mine extension.

Key Points
  • The injunction, an Australian first, is part of a growing wave of climate litigation claims
  • Rather than making the claim under environmental law, the class action asserts Federal Minister Sussan Ley has a common law duty of care for young people
  • The class action argues that by digging up and burning coal, climate change will be made worse and that will harm young people in the future
A class action launched on behalf of young people everywhere seeks an injunction to stop the Australian Government approving an extension to Whitehaven's Vickery coal mine, arguing it will harm young people by exacerbating climate change.

The injunction, filed in the Federal Court on Tuesday, is a first for Australia.

An expert says it could break new legal ground with widespread ramifications, causing problems for any new coal mine in Australia — and possibly any fossil fuel project — if it is successful.

Though the injunction itself is unique, it is part of a growing wave of climate litigation in Australia and comes less than two months after 23-year-old Melbourne law student Katta O'Donnell filed a class action against the Australian Government for failing to disclose the risk climate change poses to Australians' super and other low risk investments.

Izzy Raj-Seppings, 13, is one of the representative plaintiffs in this new case, and filed the injunction along with seven other young people aged from 13 to 17 — many of whom met during School Strike 4 Climate and were looking for more ways to take action.

The Sydney high school student made headlines last year when police ordered her to move on after organising a School Strike 4 Climate protest outside the Prime Minister's Kirribilli residence.

Izzy Raj-Seppings during the protest in December. (AAP: Steven Saphore)

She said climate change worried her, but taking part in action such as the lawsuit gave her hope.

"We're trying to get the Federal Environment Minister to prevent the Vickery coal mine going ahead because we believe she has a duty of care for young Australians and young people all over the world," Ms Raj-Seppings said.

"I definitely have hope because if you look around, you can see all the incredible climate activists, young and old, all these people fighting for what's right.

"And we are making change."

Izzy Raj-Seppings with her father Barrie Seppings at Dee Why beach. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)

First of its kind

 Rather than making the claim under environmental law, the class action claims the Federal Minister, Sussan Ley, has a common law duty of care for young people and cannot approve actions that will make climate change worse.

The class action argues that by digging up and burning coal, climate change will be made worse and that will harm them in the future.

David Barnden from Equity Generation Lawyers, who is representing the students, said the impacts of climate change on youth go "over and above regular people" because of their age.

David Barnden from Equity Generation Lawyers. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)

"The law operates to protect vulnerable people by saying that people in power have a duty to protect them," Mr Barnden said.

"In this particular case, we say that the Environment Minister has a duty to protect vulnerable people.
"What this case does is say that 'the coal needs to stay in the ground and it can't be burnt'.
"And the minister has the obligation to protect younger people and not approve the mine."

Mr Barnden is a specialist in climate litigation and is also representing Ms O'Donnell in her action against the Federal Government as well as 26 year-old Mark McVeigh, who revealed in January he is suing super fund REST for not doing enough on climate change.

This new case is a class action, with the eight young people claiming to represent every person in the world under the age of 18.

Avav Princi, Izzy Raj-Seppings, Veronica Hester, Laura Kirwan and Ambrose Hayes are all part of the action. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)

Class actions allow a group of people to bring a legal action on behalf of a larger group who are affected in a similar way.

Mr Barnden argues a precedent for this case was set in 2016 when an injunction stopped the then minister for immigration from moving a refugee to anywhere besides Australia, because he had a duty of care for her.

Emrys Nekvapil, one of the barristers who won that case, is also representing the students.

'Huge ramifications' for coal

 The mine at the centre of the case is Whitehaven's proposed extension to the Vickery Coal Mine north of Gunnedah in NSW.

Whitehaven's application to build the extension is now before Environment Minister Sussan Ley, who must decide whether to approve it or not.

The Vickery Extension Project proposes an open-cut coal mine about 25km north of Gunneah in north-west NSW. (Whitehaven Coal)

The case asks for an injunction on the Minister's decision.

If it proceeds, additional coal from the mine extension will create roughly 100 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gasses, according to the NSW Independent Planning Commission — or about as much as is created each year in Australia by all forms of domestic transport combined.

Whitehaven did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Environment Minister Sussan Ley confirmed they received the injunction application, but could not comment as the matter was before the courts.

The young people and lawyers behind the injunction application said it was about much more than one coal mine.

"If we win and if we can injunct the minister from making a decision to approve it, it could have huge ramifications for other new coal mines in Australia," Mr Barnden said.

"And it might mean the end of any new coal mine in Australia.

"We're playing to win."

Barrister and legal academic Chris McGrath said the case would be difficult.

"That's the nature of big litigation like this," Dr McGrath said. "You're breaking new ground — they're hard by nature.

"You can see a whole heap of obstacles and things that will be thrown up by the Government to try and hinder the case going forward and block it."

The teens said they were in it to win. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)

Dr McGrath said even they did win, the impact was unclear.

He said it would be a thorn in the side of fossil fuel projects in the future, but governments would likely still be able to find ways of approving coal mines.

But according to Izzy Raj-Seppings, allowing coal mines to go ahead — no matter where the coal was burned — is harming her future.

"It will create more climate refugees and we'll have a lasting health impact on all of us," she said. 

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(AU) Last Season's Climate Catastrophes Cost Insurers $5.4b

Sydney Morning Herald - Peter Hannam

Australia's most recent climate-related disasters cost insurers more than $5 billion as global warming increased the risk of catastrophic bushfires, damaging hailstorms and more powerful cyclones and east coast lows, the country's biggest insurer says.

In the second edition of its Severe Weather in a Changing Climate report, released on Wednesday, IAG said Australia was already being affected by more extreme weather as the atmosphere warmed. New research indicates those impacts are likely to continue to increase.

Bushfire risks are on the rise across almost all parts of Australia as the climate heats up, IAG says in a new report. Credit:  Nick Moir 

Just four events – last season's massive bushfires, hailstorms in Canberra and the Sunshine Coast, and February's east coast low – will generate insurance claims of about $5.4 billion, Mark Leplastrier, IAG's executive manager, natural perils, said. Claims for the fires alone will be about $2.3 billion.

The report found bushfire weather risks will increase across almost all parts of Australia, with seasons lengthening and the windows for safely conducting so-called hazard-reduction fires narrowing.

"When the conditions get right, they get right big time," said Greg Holland, an emeritus senior scientist with the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research, which worked with IAG on the report.

The recent fire season demonstrated that building codes introduced after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria were inadequate for the most extreme days and will need to be tightened.

Mr Leplastrier said that since bushfire risk, much like floods, falls dramatically the further a home is from the peril, governments should consider intervening to halt residents moving into high-threat spots.

"There's not a mechanism to actually to stop or prohibit building like there is in flood," he said. "Those are some of the tougher decisions we’re going to have to make as a broader approach."

Many homes and vehicles in Berowra Heights sustained damage when a hailstorm hit the area in December 2018. Studies show hailstones are getting bigger. Credit: Wolter Peeters

Another peril on the rise is hailstorms, with research showing events with hailstones up to 5 centimetres in diameter or larger have increased in frequency in south-eastern Australia.Areas facing increased risk include Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Melbourne, but also inland areas such as the Hunter Valley and central and eastern Victoria, the report found.

East coast lows, several of which have battered NSW, are also changing in ways that are likely to increase their impacts on coastal regions.

Dr Holland said that while the overall frequency of such lows may be trending lower, for the more dangerous ones that draw in large amounts of tropical moisture there has been a "substantial increase".

Heavy surf stirred up by an east coast low off the NSW coast in July 2020. The more damaging type of such events is on the increase in a warming world, IAG says. Credit: Nick Moir

Not only is there more rain to dump, winds are stronger, damaging properties but also whipping up the bigger surf that increases beach erosion.

For NSW, the hotspots are Bega on the South Coast, the Hawkesbury-Nepean valley and the Hunter region, where there is both the uplift of air and a funnelling effect from the geography.

"These are the areas that are the most prone to get significant damage," Dr Holland said.

Aerial photos of Lismore showing flooding from the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie in March 2017. Cyclones are tracking further south and the share of major ones is on the rise. Credit: Rotorwing Helicopter Services

With the atmosphere holding 7 per cent more moisture for each degree of warming, other big weather events such as cyclones or floods are also trending towards more extremes and are projected to continue to do so.

Across the world, the share of cyclones with a category 4 or 5 strength have increased from about a one-in-10 proportion in pre-industrial times to about one in every four or five now, a ratio also observed off Australia's north-east coast, the report said.

Rainfall dumped offshore from cyclones has been rising but overland the pace of increase is two to three times, Dr Holland said.

Likewise, massive flooding events that might have happened once in 1000 years in areas such as the Murray Darling Basin may become once in a century events, catching planners and residents off-guard.

“We are getting to the point where we are going to experience things that we didn’t know existed," Dr Holland said.

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(AU) ‘Climigration’: Whole Communities Are Moving Due To Climate Change

The Big Smoke Australia - Tony Matthews

‘Climigration’ defines the forced migration of communities impacted by climate change. Louisiana was the first state-sanctioned move, but they certainly will not be the last.



Author
Dr Tony Matthews is an award-winning Urban and Environmental Planner, with portfolios in academia, practice and the media.
He is a faculty member at Griffith University, where he is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Environment & Science and the Cities Research Institute.
Climate change increasingly threatens communities all over the world.

News of fires, floods and coastal erosion devastating lives and livelihoods seems almost constant.

The latest fires in Queensland and New South Wales mark the start of the earliest bushfire season the states have ever seen.

What happens when climate change causes extreme events to become chronic, potentially rendering some communities unviable?

This question is fuelling a new strand of global research focused on “climigration”. Climigration is the planned relocation of entire communities to new locations further from harm. And it has already begun.

It takes a lot to convince a community to move. But extreme events disrupt communities socially, economically and physically. Buildings and infrastructure are damaged, as are community cohesion and morale. Lives may be lost; many others are changed forever.

When extreme events disrupt communities, responses usually occur in one of two ways. We can try to repair damage and continue as before, which is known as resilience. Or we try to repair and fortify against future damage in a process of adaptation. Climigration is an extreme form of climate change adaptation,

This article draws on our recently published research, which investigated how land-use and strategic planning frameworks can prepare for climigration.

Climigration is no longer a concern for the future; it is a challenge today. The notion of strategically relocating entire communities has quickly moved from imagination to reality.

For instance, in 2016 the US Department of Housing and Urban Development provided US$1 billion to help communities adapt to climate change in 13 states. The grants included the first direct allocation of federal funding to move an entire community.

Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana is the first US community to undergo federally sanctioned climigration. The move has been forced by the loss of coastal land to rising seas and storm surges. Last December, the state bought land at residents’ preferred site to develop their new community.



Climigration options were previously considered in Alaska. Climate-induced coastal erosion has threatened the viability of the village of Newtok for many years. Its residents voted in 2003 to relocate to higher ground but the relocation looks unlikely to be completed before 2023.

In Australia, more than 100 households in Grantham, Queensland, were relocated to higher ground with government assistance after devastating floods caused by an exceptionally strong La Niña in 2011.

Critical factors in climigration

Climigration is, of course, not a phenomenon restricted to the US and Australia. It is a growing concern for many countries.

Our research sought to establish a framework for effective climigration planning. We systematically reviewed international case studies of community relocations undertaken because of environmental hazards. As part of this we developed a hierarchy of influencing factors in planning for climigration.

We found that the degree to which a community agrees on the need to relocate is a crucial influence. Consensus generates social capital, which supports action and improves the prospects of successful outcomes.

Perception of the timing and severity of risks is another critical factor. Immediate, obvious risks are more likely to motivate action. Motivation can be low if risks are seen as a problem for the distant future, even if impacts may eventually be devastating.

Political, economic and logistical support from government moderately influences the success of community relocation. Relocation may still occur without government support, but this is not preferable and the chances of success are lower.

Strong local leadership can improve the capacity of communities to face the reality of relocation and then to resettle. Strategic leadership from outside agencies is a complement to local leadership, not a substitute.

Strategic and land-use planning systems will be central public agencies in many climigration cases.

Planners already have relevant skills and training. These include community consultation, mediation and stakeholder engagement. Planners can coordinate land acquisition and development applications. They can provide temporary housing, infrastructure and transportation.

Planning for climigration also requires other professional input, including disaster management, social psychology and engineering.

Strategic planning for climigration should begin as early as possible. Vulnerable communities can be identified using risk mapping.

Alternative sites can then be shortlisted and potential logistical demands identified.

Securing land for relocation may place planners in the middle of competing forces. They need to be careful and deliberative to balance the expectations of residents, government, and the market.

Consultation is vital to secure community consensus in the event of climigration. It is a key tool for planners to explain risks and engage residents in crucial decisions.

Specific policy frameworks for climigration are preferable but not essential. When used, they can improve coordination and reduce the risk of negative outcomes.

A confronting concept

While climigration is not yet a common planning issue, it is likely to become an increasingly urgent agenda. Climigration events like those in Louisiana, Alaska and Queensland are just the first wave.

There are limits to the feasibility of climigration. It might only be viable for small towns and villages. Undoubtedly there will be cases where climigration is rejected as too much of challenge.

Triage-based planning could be helpful in deciding which communities to relocate.

Accepting the notion of climigration may be the biggest challenge for planners. The idea that the only viable future for a community is to be relocated elsewhere is unusual and confronting. Managing climigration through planning practice may prove more straightforward than adjusting to the idea in the first place.

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