NSW government to override High Court ruling, allow Mount Pleasant mine to increase output

The NSW government is set to introduce legislation that will allow a Hunter Valley coal mine to maintain its current high output, despite a recent High Court ruling that invalidated the mine's expansion approval.

NSW Premier Chris Minns announced that the proposed law will enable MACH Energy to increase annual coal production at its Mount Pleasant mine from 12.5 million to 16.5 million tonnes until 2032.

"It's become apparent that there are 400 jobs on the line that will go before Christmas without this intervention," Mr Minns said.

The proposed legislation will also see MACH Energy enter a "jobs guarantee" to secure the 400 direct jobs until 2032.

The move comes after the High Court found the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) failed to consider the project's downstream emissions, invalidating approvals for a 22-year extension slated by MACH.

The Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group (DAMSHEG) had successfully appealed the IPC's 2022 approval of an extension, arguing the commission failed to consider Scope 3 emissions.

"We have never wanted anyone in the Hunter to lose their livelihood," DAMSHEG president Wendy Wales said in a statement.

"A law written for one company, days after the High Court ruled against that company, is an inappropriate use of the NSW legislative process."

Mr Minns said the legislation included a requirement that MACH Energy would need to adhere to Scope 3 limiting rules, and only sell to countries that were signatories to the Paris Agreement.

"They'll continue their applications through the Land and Environment Court for the full scope of their original application, which was granted by the Independent Planning and Assessment Commission in 2022," he said.

"This is, in effect, a partial approval to keep pace with the current workforce that's on the ground in that community."

Greens spokesperson for climate change, Sue Higginson, said in a statement the premier had taken the coal company's side.

"Minns's new law is explicitly to allow more coal to be mined and exported, contrary to the High Court's decision," she said.

"This is significant overreach by Premier Minns and NSW Labor, writing special laws to protect specific projects sets a dangerous precedent."

When asked if the proposed legislation set a precedent for government interventions in controversial mine approval cases, Mr Minns rejected that, and said Mount Pleasant was in a "unique" position.

"One of the decisions we could have made is to say, 'Really sorry, it has to close, you'll have to wait for the Land and Environment Court to make a decision about that mine, and in the intervening period, those workers will have to step down'," he said.

"But if in the end the mine is approved, as many believe it will be, because the High Court decision was quite narrow and technical, then it would be a huge waste to say goodbye to those jobs and opportunities and workers."