President's Report

RSWUA PRESIDENT’S REPORT to AGM 2012

It is about 18 months since my last report and not a lot has changed regarding the threat to our

water. But there has been a most embarrassing administrative glitch. Last September we voted to

adopt the new model constitution. However, as the form to advise Dept of Fair Trading of the

decision was never sent, that decision is now void and we have to do it all over again, which we

will do at our next meeting at 3pm on November 4 at the Running Stream Hall. Fair Trading was

very understanding and as we are such a small organisation they are not worried.

On a more positive note, your Association has been active in a number of ways:

Events

1. March 2011 – The Puggles Club was launched. Its purpose is to engage young people in

learning about how important running streams are, not just for us humans but for all living

creatures, and to encourage them join us in our mission to protect our precious water. And we

have held two excursions with young members.

2. We have participated in a number of rallies to tell the government that food and water is more

important than coal. The first was the Coal and Coal Seam Gas Rally in Sydney in March 2011.

The second was a rally in May 2012 organised by the NSW Farmers Association in response to

the draft Land Use Strategy outside Parliament House in Sydney

3. March 2012 – Mudgee Mining the wHole Story (a two-day educational event organised by 7

local community action groups including RSWUA)

5. July 2012 –presence at combined community action group stall at Mudgee Small Farm Field

Days where new RSWUA membership postcard was distributed.

Submissions

We continue to write submissions to the government on behalf of our members. Major submissions

we have made are:

1. April 2011 – NSW Coal and Coal Seam Gas Draft Strategy

2. Sept 2011 – National Food Policy

3. April 2012 2011 - Draft Strategic Regional Land Use Policy

4. July 2012 – draft Aquifer Interference Policy

We also urge you to write your own letters. You have the power to influence government and I

plead with you all to please take a half hour and put pen to paper whenever we ask. We try to

make it as easy as possible by giving you all the points to make, but you need to write your own

personal introductory paragraph.

Exploration

Early last year (March 2011) Centennial presented their Water Census Report. It is not the full

hydrogeological study that we continue to press for but it is a start. In July 2011 a Drill Rig open

day was held. However by the time drilling finally commenced in April 2012 Centennial had

changed the type of drill rig. In June 2012 they held a series of Drilling Demonstration Days.

The Inglenook CCC has met seven times so far. I remind members that if there are issues they

would like raised at those meetings, don’t hesitate to contact myself or the other committee

members. Minutes of the meeting are on Centennial’s website:

http://centennialcoal.com.au/Operations/Projects/Inglenook.aspx#Landholder-Liaison-Programme

At the last CCC meeting we were given copies of the Review of Environmental Factors and I

encourage members, particularly those with some scientific training, to look at this and ensure it is

adequate. A copy can be found here on Centennial’s website:

http://centennialcoal.com.au/~/media/Files/Inglenook%20Documents/Environment/Inglenook%20E

xploration%20Review%20of%20Environmental%20Factors.ashx

You can also pick up a hard copy from their office at Spring Park (opposite Running Stream Hall)

or by phoning them on 6358 8340.

We also looked at some core samples and had the term “ash content” explained. There are two

types of ash: one appears as a distinct band in the coal; these were formed from when there was a

lot of volcanic activity and clouds of ash settled forming bands within the coal seam. These are

fairly easily removed in the washing process through flotation. The other type of ash is embedded

within the coal itself. It comes from ash being mixed up within the vegetation as it is laid down and

this is harder to remove.

Rumours are flying around regarding the quality of the coal resource at Mt Viincent. In

conversation with one of our members, it was pointed out that while coal from the area might be

high in ash it is low in impurities and could be combined with coal from another region such as

Indonesia where it is low in ash, but high in impurities to make an acceptable blend. We have to

remember we are now dealing with an international company.

So we wrote to Centennial to clarify. Here is their response :

“At this early stage of the project no comment can be factually made about coal quality from the

Inglenook Exploration Project due to the low number of samples and incomplete analysis of

samples obtained. Appropriate comment can be made once a definitive understanding of the entire

coal resource is achieved through analysis and interpretation of all coal samples. Assessment of

the coal resource will accord with requirements of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) and

the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Centennial Coal is committed to communicate project

information relevant to the community through the CCC and other communication methods”.

I also asked, again, how Centennial was going to compensate landholders and their neighbours

for loss of water due to their activities. Again the response was they would take that question on

notice, but this time we are supposed to get an answer at the next CCC meeting in October.

Access Agreements

As you know, drilling has commenced, with about nine landholders having signed agreements.

Negotiations with the “Denman Group” as six of us have been dubbed have ground to a halt, with

Centennial advising they will now take it to arbitration, and they have started with one of the group

(interestingly not one of the two with whom they began negotiations). However that person then

went on holidays for a month, so we haven’t heard where it is up to.

In conclusion I encourage you all not to give up hope; coal is a twentieth century source of power.

Keep writing to the government urging it to move into the twenty first century, support jobs in

renewable resources and above all think of the future and ensure our good quality land retains its

water resources and so continues to grow food for our growing population in the centuries to come.

Jolieske Lips, September 2012

NEW COMMITTEE

At the September AGM there was a committee reshuffle and new members were elected.

Your new committee is as follows:

President Nell Schofield

Vice President Guy Sim

Secretary Jolieske Lips

Treasurer David Drinkwater

Committee members Christine Maloney, Fiona Sim, Prudie Woods, Pam Chadwick

Congratulations to all our new committee members and deepest thanks to our former

committee members, especially Suzy Flowers for her dedication and commitment to the

preservation of our shared water resource. We are delighted to have Jolieske Lips remain

with us as Secretary and acknowledge her invaluable work as President.

We’d also like to extend a very special thank you to Craig Shaw, Secretary of the Bylong

Valley Protection Alliance for his fascinating presentation at our AGM. Entitled

‘UnderEddie’, his talk took members on a guided tour of the dark underbelly of the coal

mining business in the Bylong Valley by Eddie Obied and his associates. There are many

suspicious interconnections between ‘colourful identities’ and we await the outcome of the

ICAC enquiries with interest. If you’d like to keep up to date with developments in Bylong

Valley you can join the BVPA mailing list at http://www.bvpa.org.au/

And a quick reminder for those members who haven’t yet paid your membership for 2012, it

would be great if you would renew as soon as possible so that our new Treasurer can update

the books. Either fill in the attached form and post it to us with your cheque or make a direct

deposit and send an email to us at runningstream2850@gmail.com advising that you have

done so.

Many thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing you at our next meeting for a

special presentation by Mitchell Clapham from the NSW Farmers Association.

GENERAL MEETING

3pm, Nov 4 2012

Running Stream Hall