Pull back from rivers and swamps mining inquiries told

Thursday, 30 August 2007 02:03

"Longwall mining must be pulled back from rivers and swamps. The damage continues to spread and has serious consequences for the future of Sydney's water supply and the health of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system as a whole. Protection zones must be legislated and enforced", said TEC Natural Areas Campaigner David Burgess.

"The Carr Government attempted to improve policy on subsidence damage to rivers in 2004 but the policy has failed. The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has proven incapable of self-regulating, acting to facilitate mining approvals rather than avoiding impacts to water resources and ecosystems."

Under the current approvals regime new longwall panels are approved solely by the DPI, with a committee made up of other NSW Government departments providing advice. Larger underground mine approvals are determined by the Minister for Planning.

"We have evidence that in the past year DPI has ignored the advice of other government agencies to pull proposed mining away from rivers and knowingly approved defective mine plans. The department spruiks monitoring and remediation as the solution, but we also have evidence that monitoring programs are flawed and that the success of any remediation work is highly dubious", Mr Burgess said.

"The situation has reached crisis point. There is a queue of new mining projects that threatens to spread the impacts of longwall mining rapidly across the Upper Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, including water supply areas providing Sydney with 20% of its water. Coal mining companies in the region are posting record profits yet have been shown to be unwilling to avoid major environmental damage. Protection zones are the only solution."

The TEC also opposes a proposed longwall mine and coal handling facility in the Wyong Shire on the grounds that it will have a negative impact on the ability of NSW to meet emissions targets, could impact up to 50% of the Central Coast's water supply and poses health threats in one of Australia's fastest growing regions.