Whitehaven Coal will continue to build two mines in northwest NSW, despite environmentalists lodging an appeal against the plan in the federal court.
The Northern Inland Council for the Environment announced on Friday it would challenge plans to construct coal mines at Maules Creek, near Narrabri, and a neighbouring site at Boggabri.
The appeal is based on the "dodgy process by which (the mines) were approved and the devastating impacts they will have", council spokesman Phil Spark said.
Whitehaven, however, says it will press on with construction of the sites while the appeal is before the federal court.
"The mere commencement of the litigation does not preclude the Company from relying on the approval to proceed with construction," Whitehaven said in a statement.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Both sites were approved by then-federal environment minister Tony Burke in February.
Whitehaven says the federal court could determine that Mr Burke "committed an error of law in granting the approval", but could not decide "whether or not the project should be approved".
"If the Court was to find that there was any legal error in the Minister's granting of the approval on 11 February 2013, the Company will request that the Minister promptly cure the error, re-determine the application and grant a new approval."
Whitehaven said the litigation was not a merits appeal, and so the federal court "does not have the task of determining whether or not the project should be approved".
Earlier, Mr Spark said the decision to approve the mines was made in haste, after documents were leaked and on the basis of potentially false or misleading information.
He cited concerns that the mines would clear almost 1500 hectares of the Box-Gum critically endangered ecosystem, while vast areas of forest would be bulldozed.
Peter Watson, a farmer adjoining the mines, said the proposals would have a devastating impact on his business.
"If these mines proceed, they will rip the heart out of our local farming community of Maules Creek," he said.
