Rod Campbell and Phil Laird considering the impacts of the Maules Creek mine

It’s not often the Economists at Large website breaks the big stories, but here is a scoop – Environment Minister Tony Burke has delayed his decision on whether to permit the Maules Creek coal project to go ahead by three months.

The first we heard of this was when financiers started calling, keen to discuss the situation.  Whitehaven have issued a press release expressing their disappointment   (Presumably this release isn’t another Jonothan Moylan hoax!)

So, it looks like another three months of uncertainty for the people of Maules Creek and investors.  Until late April you can expect much media discussion of hoaxes, koalas, stygofauna and hopefully a little bit about the economics of project assessment, coal and climate change.