Quashing the environmental regulator's decision to amend the licences of three Victorian coal-fired power stations could lead to worse pollution, lawyers have claimed.
Conservation group Environment Victoria is taking on Victoria's Environmental Protection Authority in the Supreme Court, claiming the regulator failed to consider state climate law in reviewing licences for three coal-fired power stations.
The matter is the first to test Victoria's Climate Change Act, introduced in 2017, and to challenge the regulation of air pollution from coal-fired power stations.
It's alleged the EPA ignored the act by failing to impose limits or constraints on the owners of the Yallourn, Loy Yang A and Loy Yang B power stations when amending their licences following a March 2021 review.
Lawyers for EnergyAustralia, one of the defendants in the case, argued the EPA was not compelled to consider environmental protection principles when it made the amendments.
The principles were instead there to guide the authority in its decision-making, barrister Matthew Collins KC told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The EPA disclosed its reasons for the amendments but the authority could not be judged on decisions it discarded or chose not to make, Dr Collins said.
The barrister claimed Environment Victoria was asking Justice James Gorton to draw inferences from material that was not before the court.
Dr Collins also argued if the justice found the EPA's amendments were unlawful, quashing the decisions could lead to worse pollution.
The amendments made by the EPA restricted the three power stations' discharge limits and ability to release pollution, Dr Collins said.
Overturning those changes would give the three power stations more scope to pollute, the barrister said.
Lawyers for the other defendants, AGL Energy and Alinta Energy, will continue their submissions before Justice Gorton on Thursday.
