This win is the result of an extraordinary community effort by the residents of Gloucester Valley, helped by the NSW Environmental Defenders Office, which represented them. It took numerous hours of volunteer work, fund raising, sleepless nights and commitment for the outcome to be achieved.

The Gloucester Valley community had already stopped a coal-seam gas (CSG) proposal but had to regather their strength and determination to fend off an open cut coalmine proposal that would potentially extract 2.5 million tonnes of coal annually within a kilometre of homes and within five kilometres of the township of Gloucester.

Doctors rejected the Rocky Hill proposal from the start on health grounds.

The health risks of coalmines are well known. They have significant impacts on our air quality, resulting in worsening respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, cancers and impaired development of children’s lungs, our water quality as well as agriculture in the local area, impacting on food security.

The mining and burning of coal is also a main driver of climate change.

The worsening of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions will make it even harder to fulfil our Paris Agreement commitments, and are our best chance at stalling further warming.

Much of the extreme weather events we are experiencing, including bush fires, floods, heatwaves and drought, are a result of our changing climate.

Doctors and other health professionals see the impacts of these events in their surgeries and in emergency departments.

Despite the risks to health of the local and the broader community from the proposed coalmine, it was left to the Gloucester Valley residents to defend health and the environment.

Gloucester Resources Limited  (GRL) first made the proposal for the Rocky Hill coal project in 2012. Strong opposition to the proposed mine led the then Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC) to reject approval of the mine in 2017.

This week, the NSW Land and Environment Court dismissed GRL’s appeal to overturn this decision.

The Gloucestor Valley community should never have had to go before the courts to protect their future in the first place.

However, the fact that it did has set a precedent which will likely have far-reaching implications for all Australians and the rest of the world. There is no place for any new developments or exploration for fossil fuels.

The planet can no longer absorb the impacts from the burning of coal, gas and oil.

The Rocky Hill court ruling recognises that any perceived financial benefits of the proposed development are outweighed by the negative impacts.

This holds true for other fossil fuel developments.

There is a significant push for more CSG developments.

However, the fugitive emissions from CSG alone should be enough to stop any of these proposals from progressing.

There are many good people throughout the country who are working hard to protect our future.

Farmers are trying to preserve their farmland by incorporating sustainable practices, communities are setting up renewable energy hubs to provide clean electricity, concerned citizens are volunteering their time, and even school kids are going on strike! Their efforts will benefit us all.

Twice now the residents of Gloucester have shown us what can be done to stop fossil fuel development, and that we can no longer hope that our politicians will do the right thing.  

This year residents of this area will see two important elections take place – in NSW and federally.

Now is our chance to tell politicians that we want to see a dramatic decrease in our carbon emissions which mean no new fossil fuel developments, a massive increase in renewable energy production so that we are 100 per cent renewable by 2030, clean reliable transport options and protection of our natural environment by creating a National Environmental Protection Agency.

The success of the Rocky Hill action shows that when we pull together, we can indeed achieve extraordinary change.