NSW’s fast-track planning laws could allow mines to be approved without environmental assessment

Environmental assessments could go out the window for mining projects, windfarms and other developments, green groups say

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Changes to New South Wales’s planning laws designed to fast-track housing are so broad they could facilitate fast-tracking of mines, power projects and infrastructure without environmental assessment, the Environmental Defenders Office has warned.

The proposed changes to NSW’s planning system, announced in September, were billed as a once-in-a-generation change that will speed up housing approvals.