The Independent Planning Commission's rejection of the Bylong Valley coal mine has triggered an about-face from the NSW Minerals Council, which is criticising the approvals process it once championed.
Last week the IPC rejected Korean miner Kepco's application to dig an open cut coal mine in the Bylong Valley.
The NSW Minerals Council slammed the "faceless" IPC panel members, branding the Bylong decision a symbol of "everything that is wrong with the NSW planning system".
"The NSW Government needs to take back control of the planning system. The role of the IPC must change," said NSW Minerals Council chief executive Stephen Galilee.
The Minerals Council has launched an advertising blitz demanding a fix for the "broken" planning system.
It said regional communities like Kandos and Rylstone with the Bylong project had been "left at the mercy of an unelected and unaccountable body" in the IPC.
The IPC was established in 2018, replacing the Planning Assessment Commission.
PAC and IPC determinations were open to merit appeals at the discretion of the Planning Minister.
That means relevant parties could lodge a court challenge over the substance of a decision.
But the minister also has discretion to remove merit appeal rights, so approvals are only open to judicial review, which is a narrower challenge than merit appeal where the court only considers if the decision complies with the letter of the law.
The NSW Minerals Council has criticised merit appeal in the planning system, complaining that environmental "lawfare" from activists was blocking development.
"Third party merit appeals add delay, cost and risk to the development assessment process, and have rarely been successful against mining projects in NSW. The transparency provided by independent review should be an important part of the assessment process," The Minerals Council said in a submission to the Productivity Commission in 2013.
The Bylong decision is not open to merit appeal. Kepco as the project proponent can lodge a judicial review to challenge a technical element of the IPC's ruling.
But even if it's successful, the project will be sent back and reconsidered by the IPC.
Bylong Valley farmer Phillip Kennedy said the Minerals Council campaign was "obscene" during prolonged drought.
"There are whole towns running out of water. We need to conserve the land and water we have so we can grow fodder.
"We cannot sustain both vitally important agriculture and a dirty great big coal mine," Mr Kennedy said.
"Bylong is a unique, small valley and it is ridiculous for anyone to think a mine won't impact the water and farmland here."
Lock the Gate George Woods welcomed the Bylong decision, but argued merit appeals should be available to challenge all major projects.
"The mining industry has been happy to see the community disenfranchised of merits appeal rights, but as soon as a decision goes against them and find they don't have any rights either, they cry foul," Ms Woods said.
In its ruling the IPC said the Bylong project was not in the public interest because it "is contrary to the principles of ecologically sustainable development".
It highlighted "inter-generational equity" arguing Kepco's forecast economic windfall would benefit the present generation, but future generations would wear long-term environmental, heritage and agricultural costs.
Lock the Gate said the Narrabri coal seam gas project assessment, which could be determined by the end of the year, should be open to merit appeals.
NSW Minerals Council was contacted for comment.