Lake Vermont-Meadowbrook Coal Mine Extension
The economic assessment of the Lake Vermont project heavily understates its costs and overstates its benefits. At the USA Environmental Protection Agency’s central social cost of carbon estimate, the cost of the direct emissions alone is $4.1 billion, greater than the estimated royalty revenue – $1.1 billion.
Despite the urgent need to reduce fossil fuel extraction and use, Jellinbah Group is applying to extend the operations of the Lake Vermont Mine, approximately 235km southwest of Mackay in Queensland. The economic assessment in the Environmental Impact Statement heavily understates the costs of the project. Based on recent US EPA estimates of the social cost of carbon, the costs associated with the direct emissions of the project are likely to outweigh the benefits to Australia, to say nothing of the climate impact of the combustion of the product coal. The project should be refused on economic grounds.