PROTEST group Lock The Gate Alliance says eight coalmining applications to extend or modify existing mines represents "the largest coal expansion since the Paris Agreement in 2016".
Lock The Gate coordinator Nic Clyde said the Perrottet government had "let the coalmining sector charge full steam ahead without restraint", but the industry peak body, the NSW Minerals Council, says mining approvals are harder than ever to achieve and that the bulk of the projects were "continuation" applications which were likely - if approved - to have far tighter conditions than was the case presently.
