Water wars Since its Maules Creek Mine began operations in 2015, Whitehaven’s pleaded guilty to having stolen 1 billion litres of drinking water. During one of the worst droughts New South Wales had ever seen, Whitehaven built illegal dams and water storages near the mine, diverting water away from local communities and farmers. Additionally, Whitehaven has gobbled up water licences by paying 5x the market rate, outbidding local farmers.  

Clearing of Indigenous ancestral land The Maules Creek mine stripped away thousands of hecates of the Leard state forest, an ancient Gomeroi cultural site. For two years, many in the Gomeroi community fiercely opposed the mine. When the mine was constructed in 2014, many Indigenous artefacts and culturally significant sites were destroyed. 

Health impacts from air pollution Whitehaven's coal is exported via the Port of Newcastle. Residents have expressed their opposition to air pollution originating from the transport of coal in uncovered coal railway wagons through the suburbs of Newcastle on the way to the port.

Driving climate catastrophe Despite calls from the International Energy Agency (IEA) for no new coal mines, Whitehaven Coal has announced plans to spend AUD 2 billion building three new mines, and expanding existing assets. MarketForces found that if built, the three new mines could emit over 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 over their lifetimes, which is more than double Australia’s annual emissions. They also found that the amount of coal that Whitehaven is forecasting is aligned with a scenario in which the world will be warmed by 4°C. 

Perpetuating coal-based steel Currently, 84% of Whitehavens revenue comes from thermal coal (i.e. coal burned in a power plant). Citing difficulty in raising finance for thermal coal mines, Whitehaven has announced an intention to expand its metallurgical coal operations (i.e coal burned in a steel plant). With steel production accounting for 11% of global emissions, phasing coal out of the steel production process is essential as metallurgical coal mines are just as emissions intensive, and climate damaging as thermal coal mines.

Deforestation of endangered forest To build the Maules Creek mine, Whitehaven cleared 5,532 hectares (the equivalent of 10,300 football fields) of box gum grassy woodland - an ecosystem that is critically endangered. It was granted permission to clear the forest on the condition that they secured ecological offsets. In April 2020, Whitehaven was taken to court for not having secured said offsets, 7 years after they said they would.

Failure to rehabilitate drill sites In August 2021, Whitehaven was taken to court for breaches in its licence. One of the breaches was a failure to rehabilitate its drill sites and drilling bores. Whitehaven itself pleaded guilty to all 19 charges, and paid $372,500 in fines. 

A decade of law breaking Grassroots organisation Lock the Gate developed a Whitehaven coal shame file. They list every incident in that last decade where Whitehaven coal was fined, breached the law, or had a publicly registered incident. The file shows that since 2011, Whitehaven has incurred nearly UA$ 1.5 million in fines, and been investigated or found guilty 35 times.