Central Queensland group calls for refusal of Centurion North mine amendment

Community group Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland (EnvA) has lodged a formal submission calling for the refusal of a major amendment to the Environmental Authority for the proposed Centurion North Mine, approximately 40km north-west of Moranbah.

The amendment, lodged by Centurion Coal Mining Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy Australia Pty Ltd, would allow early works and exploration activities to proceed ahead of a broader environmental impact assessment for the full Centurion North Development (CND).

EnvA argues the proposal represents a staged development that should be assessed as part of the entire CND project through a single Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), rather than through a piecemeal approval process.

EnvA Director Dr Coral Rowston said:

“This proposal is clearly part of a much larger coal development and should not be assessed in isolation.

“Approving early works now risks undermining the integrity of the EIS process and exposing the project to legal and environmental risk.”

Threatened species and habitat at risk

EnvA’s submission highlights substantial areas of nationally significant biodiversity within the broader project area, including brigalow ecological communities, natural grasslands, koala habitat, squatter pigeon habitat and other threatened species.

The group argues that further clearing in the Suttor and Isaac catchments — where significant vegetation loss has already occurred — would compound cumulative impacts on threatened ecosystems.

“This is not marginal land. The scale of identified threatened habitat demonstrates that the site has regional and national ecological significance,” said Dr Rowston.

EnvA also raised concerns about the proponent’s reliance on financial settlement offsets rather than like-for-like ecological restoration, warning that offsets cannot replace complex ecological communities within meaningful timeframes.

Water and Great Barrier Reef concerns

The proposed works sit within catchments that ultimately connect to the Fitzroy and Burdekin basins. EnvA says insufficient groundwater modelling and limited project-specific impact assessment information have been provided to properly assess risks to surface water, groundwater dependent ecosystems and downstream environments, including the Great Barrier Reef.

“The precautionary principle requires that uncertainty not be used as a reason to proceed where there are threats of serious environmental harm.”

Climate and human rights implications

EnvA’s submission also criticises the project’s greenhouse gas assessment, noting that emissions have only been estimated for the first six years of what is proposed to be a 28-year project.

The group argues that failing to assess life-of-mine emissions — including downstream combustion emissions from coal extraction — prevents proper consideration of cumulative climate impacts.

The submission further states that approval of the project would engage rights protected under the Queensland’s Human Rights Act , including the right to life, children’s rights, cultural rights of First Nations peoples, and rights to property and equality.

“Communities in Queensland are already experiencing intensified floods, heatwaves and bushfires. Approving new fossil fuel expansion in this context raises serious questions about intergenerational equity and public interest,” said Dr Rowston.

Call for refusal

EnvA is calling on the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation to refuse the Environmental Authority amendment and require the proposal to be assessed as part of the broader coordinated project EIS.

“At a minimum, the Centurion North proposal must be assessed transparently and comprehensively — not through fragmented approvals that risk leaving long-term environmental damage and stranded liabilities.”

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Also see EnvA’s submission on the EPBC referral of the broader Centurion North Development project here.