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Resources Minister says he recognises Paris Agreement, but it's full steam ahead on coal anyway

AT first glance, the state government's new "strategic statement on coal exploration and mining in NSW" looks like an attempt to navigate a middle course between the extremes of the energy debate, and to recognise the realities of the Paris Agreement.

There is a plan to "improve certainty as to where mining should not occur", and to "address community concerns about the impacts of coal mining".

Environmental groups even thanked Deputy Premier John Barilaro for being a Resources Minister who finally acknowledged global climate concerns.

But with NSW Minerals Council chief executive Stephen Galilee on one side, and his fellow Nationals MP Michael Johnsen on the other, Mr Barilaro is clearly siding with the coal industry and its 22,000 employees, rather than the environmental movement, or even his own government's target of zero-net-emissions for NSW by 2050.

Read the full opinion in Newcastle Herald 25th June 2020

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