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August 16, 2016
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Issue 98
Wallarah 2 seen as a threat on many levels ember for W y o n g and NSW Shadow Minister for the Central Coast, Mr David Harris, will speak at a Water Not Coal meeting to be held at the Blue Haven Community Centre on August 18, following his call for the NSW Government to buy back the Wallarah 2 exploration licence.
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The latest proposal from South Korean mining company KORES could see a coal conveyor belt, rail spur, and coal stock pile, located within 200 metres of Blue Haven homes. A nine-storey coal loader would also be visible from Blue Haven and would come within 300 metres of houses in the new residential suburb to be developed by the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council. The amended development application and Environmental Impact Statement are currently on public exhibition. Mr Harris said he called on the NSW Baird Government to buy back the Wallarah 2 exploration licence after the government confirmed they would pay BHP $220 million to buy back their mining licence for the proposed Caroona mine in the Liverpool plains. “The Baird /O’Farrell government promised to stop Wallarah 2 in 2011 as an election commitment,” Mr Harris said. “The proposed Wallarah 2 project would be beneath our water
An underground shearer that grinds coal from the seam, dumps it on a conveyor and lets the roof of the mine fall down behind it that could cause subsidence and damage to the water aquifer
catchment, a catchment that supplies water to 320,000 people,” he said. He said KORES, the Korean Government owned mining company that holds the mining exploration licence, is reportedly suffering financial issues, raising more doubts about the viability of the proposed project. “The Wallarah 2 mine proposal has been a major election issue since 2011 at both a state and Federal level. “It featured heavily most recently in the 2016 Federal election, when Labor won the seat of Dobell on a platform opposing the mine. “Mike Baird was the Shadow Treasurer in 2011, and must have supported the infamous Liberal ‘No ifs, no buts, a guarantee’ election
promise. “If the Baird government can … use taxpayers’ money in Caroona, then we have every right to expect the same here, particularly given their previous election promises. “To continue to ignore their solemn commitment is nothing more than political bastardry.” An earlier Australian Coal Alliance meeting was held at Wyong RSL on August 10 to update the community about the latest attempts by KORES to have the Wallarah 2 underground coal mine approved by the NSW Planning Assessment Commission as a State Significant Development. The meeting was attended by around 180 locals who came from as far afield as The Entrance and Terrigal.
Spokesperson for The Greens Central Coast, Ms Kate da Costa, who attended the meeting, said: “The proposal is that the conveyor belt and stock pile will be operating 24 hours and seven days a week for 30 years, so freight trains will be loading coal from an un-covered conveyor belt around the clock.” According to Ms da Costa, the only part of the development application that KORES has changed is the mechanism for getting the coal from the mine to the train. She said the NSW Government’s requirement for the Planning Assessment Commission to “prioritise economic outcomes” when assessing developments, meant the mine’s approval was still a possibility.
“But the commission even found KORES’ economic argument for the mine overblown and not particularly compelling,” she said. The clincher, for Ms da Costa, was that KORES’ own Environmental Impact Statement conceded that a coal mine in such a populated area “could increase mortality by one in 100,000 people per year. “There are over 300,000 people living on the Central Coast so that is three deaths per year,” she said. According to Ms da Costa, community members at the August 10 meeting expressed a sense of frustration that they had been fighting the Wallarah 2 coal mine for 11 years. “This is an important fight to win, and the Blue
Haven meeting is an important step, because I am sure that there are many people in Blue Haven and other nearby areas that do not know this thing is going to be on their doorstep,” she said. The Australian Coal Alliance has also raised concerns about mine subsidence, air extraction from the proposed mine and that approval of the project could allow dumping of water into local lakes and/or the ocean. “The best analogy I can come up with is that it would be the same as allowing an underground coal mine in the Sydney Hills District with a coal loader in the middle of Castle Hill,” said the Australian Coal Alliance’s Water Not Coal Campaign Director, Mr Alan Hayes. “When you talk about coal dust, you are talking about fine micro particles (micron) that can’t be seen by the naked eye but are carried many kilometres by the wind and will get into your lungs and cause all sorts of respiratory problems,” Mr Hayes said. “The NSW Government wants the whole northern area of the Central Coast zoned for housing, but if you had a young family, would you go to coal mine central to raise your children?” he said. Media release, Aug 12, 2016 Zachary Harrison, office of David Harris Interview, Aug 12, 2016 Kate da Costa, Central Coast Greens Interview, Aug 12, 2016 Alan Hayes, Australian Coal Alliance Jackie Pearson, journalist
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