Issue 128 October 24, 2017
Your independent community newspaper - Ph: 4325 7369
Protest rally planned for coal mine assessment hearing T
he community is gearing up, for the third time, to give evidence to the NSW P l a n n i n g A s s e s s m e n t Commission (PAC) that the proposed Wallarah 2 coal mine will have an unacceptable impact on human health and the Central Coast’s major water catchment supply district.
The Dooralong and Yarramalong Valleys, under which the mine is proposed to operate, are the major drinking water resource for the entire Central Coast. Australian Coal Alliance (ACA) executive member, Mr Mike Campbell, said: “It really is a no-brainer, coal mining and water resources don’t mix. “In NSW alone, more than 37 river and stream systems have been so badly compromised from long wall coal mining that they either no longer exist, or the water is so badly polluted that it is no longer potable,” Mr Campbell said. “The protection of our vital water resources is paramount, yet the NSW Government has for too long put the interests of the coal mining industry before the needs of all communities to have
Mr Alan Hayes (right) from the Australian Coal Alliance says Gladys Berejiklian should honour the promise of former Premier, Barry O’Farrell access to an unpolluted and guaranteed drinking water supply from catchment areas. “The community wants nothing more than the Liberal Government to honour its ironclad promise, made both in public and in writing, as Liberal Party Policy, to legislate not to allow mining in the Wyong water catchment valleys. “The community is both resilient and steadfast in its fight to protect the drinking water and community health from the draconian and unacceptably destructive impacts of a longwall
coal mine in the middle of our community. “If Wallarah 2 believes that they will wear us down, they are mistaken. “We will not go away.” The PAC Hearing will be held from 9:00am on Friday, November 3, at the Wyong Golf Club. The Australian Coal Alliance will be holding a protest rally, commencing at 8:00am, in front of the golf club. “The community is invited to attend and voice their concern and let the PAC know that water and heath is sacrosanct,” Mr Campbell said. “This will be the third
time, under the miner’s current Development Application, that the community will have appeared before the PAC,” said Australian Coal Alliance (ACA) spokesperson, Mr Alan Hayes. “On the previous two occasions the PAC found that the proponent had not sufficiently dealt with various matters, in particular being able to protect the water and provide a supplementary town water supply in all climatic conditions,” Mr Hayes said. “The Department of Planning and
Infrastructure (DPI) has conceded, albeit tacitly, that there will be a loss of water from the catchment, which would impact on the urban water supply,” he said. “The Liberal Government and its planning department continue to show an unwavering bias toward the coal industry, trying to convince the community that putting water resources at risk of being lost is still in their best interests. “Objectivity, which is a criteria of the mining assessment process, is pushed aside for a
subjective approach that continually favours the mine proponent. “This has been the ongoing problem that the community campaign opposing the Wallarah 2 coal project has had to tolerate. “Don’t let the truth and evidence get in the way of a good story. “The DPI has again recommended to the PAC that the mine could be approved and claims that it is in the public interest. “This is despite overwhelming public opposition to the project and that, at the previous two PAC hearings, it was accepted that the mining company’s economic claims did not stack up and the mining company had not been able to guarantee it could meet the water criteria,” Mr Hayes said. Mr Rod Campbell, director of leading economic think tank, the Australia Institute, said to the PAC in April, that “if the mining company’s claims were to be accepted, it would be the cheapest mine to build and operate in the world, a claim that is not tenable.”
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