The Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group (DAMS HEG) achieved a landmark, precedent-setting victory in the NSW Court of Appeal in July 2025, overturning approval for the 22-year expansion of MACH Energy’s Mount Pleasant coal mine. The court ruled that the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) failed to adequately consider the climate impacts (specifically Scope 3 emissions- the emissions caused in the burning of the fuel) of the project. 

Now the coal company, MACH Energy, is taking that decision to the High Court; the first ever climate case at Australia’s highest court. 

“We never thought we’d end up in the High Court – but we can’t stand by and watch our beautiful valley further vandalised,” Wendy says. ‘This case is bigger than one mine. It’s about whether communities have the right to protect themselves from projects that threaten our future.’ 

Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group have established a chuffed campaign Help two retired teachers take on a coal giant in the High Court of Australia 

Mach Energy is trying to extend the life of its enormous Mt Pleasant coal mine in the Hunter Valley by six more years, and submissions close on 9 March. 

Even as DAS HEG prepare to defend their landmark win against Mt Pleasant’s expansion in the High Court of Australia, Mach Energy has slipped in a new expansion proposal so they can keep making the mine bigger, regardless of the High Court outcome. 

This single mine extension would generate over 100 million tonnes of downstream greenhouse pollution, at a time when the NSW Government’s own Net Zero Commission has said that continued extensions to coal mining in NSW are not consistent with our state’s climate laws or the Paris Agreement. 

For more information see Lock the Gate and their handy submission guide