Mid-West group calls for wider study on mining impacts

The Mid-Western Community Action Network (MWCAN) has called for a more wide-ranging study on the effects of mining proposals in the Mid-Western Region.

Council last week considered a draft consultancy brief for a study to be funded by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, to look at the effects of mining on local and regional infrastructure in the Mudgee region.

The study will look at the how proposed mines will identify which additional services will be needed to cater for growth resulting from mining projects.

Speaking at council’s open day, MWCAN spokesman Chris Pavich said the study area should include the villages of Lue, Rylstone, Kandos, Charbon, Clandulla, Ilford and Bylong, all of which were already significantly affected by coal mining or were likely to be affected.

Mr Pavich said the study should also look the effects of limestone, rhyolite, dolomite, and magnetite mining in addition to coal mining. He also called for the effect on rail and air transport to be included in the brief as well as roads.

The study brief should include increased use of the airport, and the effect of increased use of the rail corridor on village such as Lue, Charbon and Kandos, he said.

Mr Pavich said expansion of mining would also have a significant impact on Rural Fire Service (RFS) recruitment in areas such as Wollar.

Although mines relied on the RFS to provide fire fighting services, the number of volunteers available was falling as permanent residents moved away from areas such as Wollar.

Mines’ demand for water was also likely to affect he entire region, he said.

“Libraries, sports, and children should all be mentioned in the consultancy brief,” he said.

“We also need to think about liveability in the region in 30 years time when the mines are done with us.”

Mr Pavich asked that the MWCAN, Mudgee Business Association, Kandos and Rylstone business groups, Mudgee District Environment Group, Running Street Water Users Association be included in consultation as part of the study.

A report to the Mid-Western Regional Council has also supported the inclusion of Gulgong, Rysltone and Kandos in the study.

Council deferred adoption of the consultancy brief to consider MWCAN’s comments 

 Source:  Mudgee Guardian 20 Jun 2011

See also:  Ulan, Wollar residents address mine case hearing

Nell Schofield speaks on our environment

Source:  CVA blog & THE WEEKLY

Mudgee Region Community Action: Moratorium on Coal Expansion -UPDATE

The gathering/protest outside the Mudgee Council Chambers tomorrow has been cancelled.

Bev has been contacted by the media tonight and they are unable to be present in the afternoon.  Bev thought it best to completely cancel the gathering rather than changing the time and risk confusion and have people standing around cold and miserable for little gain.

Really sorry for the short notice and inconvenience to those that were planning to go.

Below is what the Environmental Defenders Office’s monthly e-bulletin had to say about tomorrow’s case.

Please note that you are most welcome to sit in on the hearing which starts at 1pm.

Regards

Rob Binks

(MWcan secretary)

EDO case update: Hunter Environment Lobby Inc v Minister for Planning and Ulan Coal Mines Ltd

The EDO, on behalf of the Hunter Environment Lobby Inc, has commenced proceedings in the Land and Environment Court to challenge the merits of the Minister for Planning's approval of certain coal mining activities at the Ulan Coal Mine, located 40 kilometres north of Mudgee. Proceedings have been commenced against the NSW Minister for Planning and Ulan Coal Mines Ltd. The approvals being challenged allow for the consolidation of Ulan's 24 existing development consents into a single planning approval, expansion of its existing underground “longwall” mining operations and new open cut mining operation. These approvals will see a doubling of Ulan's existing approved production rate to up to 20 million tones of coal per year. The mine expansion is predicted to have a significant impact on groundwater, which is expected to take 200 years to recover. It will also result in the clearing of 409 hectares of vegetation, including 69 hectares of endangered ecological communities and habitat for several fauna species. The greenhouse gas emissions from the mine will add approximately 12.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year to the atmosphere, exacerbating global anthropogenic climate change. The grounds of appeal are in relation to groundwater, biodiversity offsets and greenhouse gas emissions and the EDO has engaged experts to give evidence on these matters. A 15 day hearing commenced this week and we will keep you updated with any further developments.

Basin mining and CSG recommendations should apply across the State.

The same rigorous rules recommended for mining and coal seam gas developments in the Murray-Darling Basin should apply across the whole of New South Wales. That’s the view of members of key community, water and environmental groups who gathered at a region-wide meeting in Rylstone on the weekend.

Their call comes after the release of the report ‘Of droughts and flooding rains’ (http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ra/murraydarling/report.htm), handed down by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia, after its inquiry into the impact of Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

The report, released last week by the Committee’s chair, Tony Windsor, makes numerous recommendations aimed at limiting any adverse impacts by mining and gas developments on water.

These include ensuring that “no mining activities are approved that impact water resources” until  such time as these impacts “are fully understood and able to be mitigated”, and seeing relevant legislation and regulations in place “as a matter of urgency”, to ensure the “long-term health and productivity” of water resources.

“What Tony Windsor and his fellow committee members are saying is that water is too precious a resource to be wrecked by mining and coal seam gas extraction. This is what we’ve been saying all along,” said Jolieske Lips, President of the Running Stream Water Users Association (RSWUA), one of the groups represented at the Rylstone meeting.

Peter Grieve, Interim President of the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance (BVPA) agreed: “We have been of the view for a long time now that no development should take place without a full and rigorous understanding of how local water systems work in total – and we just do not have that information available.

“Going in blind – or even half-blind – is just asking for trouble,” he said. “That’s why we’ve petitioned the NSW Government for a proper water study before any further development decisions are taken.”

Rylstone District Environment Society President, Rado Marjanac and Barbara Hickson, President of the Mid-Western Community Action Network both put the view that there was no reason the same approach shouldn’t be applied across the remainder of NSW.

“It’s the same industries and the same issues – and the same very sensible recommendations by the Committee should apply everywhere. The idea that less stringent standards might apply just over the range in the Upper Hunter makes no sense at all.”

The Rylstone gathering was the first of what is planned to be an ongoing series of collaboration and strategy development between the ever-growing number of groups in the region and surrounding areas concerned about mining and coal seam gas.

Media spokesperson for the Mudgee District Environment Group, Bev Smiles, said the meeting was all about “working smarter, not harder”.

“There is such a groundswell of interest that new groups are being formed all the time. We need to help ensure that we all have a good idea of what each other is doing so that, collectively, we have as big an impact as possible.”

Community Action against coal mining expansion - outside Council in Mudgee 1.30pm Friday 10 June

Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 21:29:21 +1000
From: bevsmiles@bigpond.com
To:
Subject: Community Action against coal mining expansion - outside Council in Mudgee 1.30pm Friday 10 June

Please circulate this notice to your networks and contact as many people as possible to make the most of this opportunity.

Mudgee Region Community Action: Moratorium on Coal Expansion
1.30pm outside the Council building in Mudgee, Market St
Bring friends and family, banners, signs, identify your group/area/mine proposal, help make a large crowd.

The Land and Environment Court case appealing the Ulan Mine expansion is in Mudgee on Friday 10 June.

The media will be following the case. This is an opportunity to highlight the number of areas in the Shire threatened by coal mining expansion. A large crowd will show we are serious.

For more information contact Bev Smiles 0428 817 282

The march of the methane-mongers

Sharon Munro has another interesting post on her Blog and says:

"As the gas leaks and bubbles, and the contaminants creep into the falling water sources and the salt accumulates, as people itch at strange rashes, hold their heads with strange aches, or their stomachs with strange nausea attacks, and worry if they are drinking cancer-causing chemicals from the fracturing process or breathing them in from the gas flares — the coal seam gas (CSG) industry continues to advance across Australia. Gasland is here. Angus lives at Tara, hotspot of the Queensland methane push, and where residents had been complaining since 2008 about leaking gas wells and the dumping of CSG water on roads. (Photo: Courier-Mail 21.10.2010)"

"You cannot stop this gas rush once you have let them in to test and prove the gas reserves.  But you can refuse right at the start, lock the gate, put up a sign and say ‘NO’ as thousands are now doing, one way or another, with the Lock the Gate national alliance of over 90 groups, and hundreds of individuals, from all walks of life. I am one."

See full post here.

EDO free mining law workshop - Rylstone

State freezes exploration licences for new mining

Capertee Valley Alliance Inc. post: "A 60-DAY freeze on new exploration licences for coal, coal seam gas and petroleum has been announced by the NSW government in a push to resolve the escalating conflict between farmers, miners and conservationists over land use. click here to read the SMH article."

Invitation - Coal Mining and the Community Forum 20 May

A strategy for coal mining in NSW is currently under consideration by the NSW Government. Come to the Coal Mining and the Community forum and help set the agenda for effective policies and governance of coal mining.

The forum will be held on Friday 20 May 2011, between 9.00 am and 4.00 pm at the Singleton Senior Citizen¹s Centre, Bathurst St, Singleton.

See flier and registration form.

MINING LAW IN NSW - free workshop at Mudgee - REMINDER

Communities in Control Conference 2011

Australia's not going to reform itself. Let's get moving, today, together. Book now and find out how at the Communities in Control Conference

Just a quick reminder that the Communities in Control Conference is less than a month away. Don't miss out on the annual conference that is the first and last word on grassroots leadership. This year's theme is 'Our Changing Communities and Community Organisations' and we've got some fantastic speakers, thinkers and doers lined up, including, but not limited to:


SIMON MCKEON - 2011 Australian of the Year;
MARK SCOTT - Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC);
MIRIAM LYONS - Executive Director, Centre for Policy Development;
ELIZABETH BRODERICK - Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination;
LINDA LAVARCH - Chair of the Australian Government's Not-for-Profit Sector Reform Council;
HUGH MACKAY - Australia's greatest psychologist, social researcher and writer on what makes us tick;
PHIL RUTHVEN - Founder & Chairman, IBISWorld telling us what is around the corner in numbers and trends; and
JUST ANNOUNCED - SHARAN BURROW - General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, delivering the Inaugural Joan Kirner Social Justice Oration.
The only way to change things is at the grassroots. Find out how at the Communities in Control Conference on May 30 & 31, 2011

VENUE:
Moonee Valley Racing Club
Members Gate 1, McPherson Street, Moonee Ponds, Melbourne VIC

PRICE:
Conference only: $298 (GST inclusive)
Pre-Conference Skills Day - Women Achieving And Flourishing: $145 (GST inclusive)
Combined Conference and Pre-Conference Skills Day: $425 (GST inclusive)

FURTHER INFORMATION:
www.ourcommunity.com.au/cic2011 and see attached brochure.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS ON TO COLLEAGUES AND COMMUNITY GROUPS.

Submission on the NSW Coal & Gas Strategy by National Trust

Conclusion

 
It appears to the Trust and to the community at large that, in recent years, gas and coal exploration licences and approvals for mining and gas production have been issued with few restrictions or restraints and this has led to a major community backlash across NSW. Dealing with many of these development proposals as State Significant Developments has largely “locked-out” community input via local government authorities, yet the adverse impacts of these developments are primarily felt at the local level.

There is a perception also that mining companies (and their investors) are in a rush to exploit as much coal reserves as possible before climate change issues force coal mining to be abandoned and that this headlong rush is both risky and ill-considered. Mining companies must be held accountable into the long-term for any on-going adverse effects of their activities.

The NSW Coal and Gas Strategy has the potential to properly identify these concerns and to recommend appropriate guidelines and restrictions to ensure that these industries are not given an environmental carte blanche but are forced to address the long-term and indirect costs of their production, which to date have been typically borne by individuals and local communities.

Development approvals for coal and gas extraction should only be determined following full regard to all foreseeable environmental, heritage, community, social and competing-use impacts. Competing use impacts are particularly relevant, as coal and gas extraction and processing industries have significant potential to sterilise land for alternative uses for many years, if not indefinitely.

The Trust makes the following recommendations in regard to the formulation of an ecologically sustainable NSW Coal and Gas Strategy:

1.    Any coal mining in sensitive areas must, at the very least, utilise lower impact methods for coal extraction, rather than Longwall methods, and extensive areas of subsidence protection zones should be established.

2.    Longwall coal mining must not be permitted beneath Landscape Conservation Areas, protected water catchment areas, rivers, streams, creeks or wetlands.

3.    Neither longwall coal mining nor coal seam gas production should be permitted where there is any risk of damage or pollution of subterranean aquifers.

4.    Reported damage to heritage values during ongoing mining operations must result in reviews of those operations to determine the impacts and put in place less-damaging alternatives.

5.    Open-cut mining must not be allowed to threaten the destruction of whole towns, with their built fabric and social values, prime agricultural land or recognised heritage landscapes.

6.    Gas production facilities must not be sited within, nor impact upon, prime agricultural land, recognised heritage landscapes or within protected water catchment areas.

7.    The Community and their local government representatives must be kept fully informed and briefed on all gas and coal exploration activities and the scope of existing mining leases throughout the State.

8.    Before agreeing to any further exploration or mining leases or renewal of such leases, full environmental impact assessments and social impact assessments need to be undertaken and placed on exhibition for community comment.

The Trust recognises that economic factors tend to dominate any considerations relating to mining activities. The Trust would make the point that, if the only way that mining (or any activity) can be profitable is by utilising environmentally or socially unacceptable practices, then these industries are simply unprofitable.

Read full Report

Bylong petitions for protection from mines

Article in Mudgee Guardian - 02 May, 2011

Bylong Valley Protection Alliance (BVPA) is petitioning to have the valley declared a place of national significance to protect it from potential mining for coal, semi-precious minerals and coal seam gas.

 

BVPA interim president Jodi Nancarrow told a Rylstone District Environment Group (RDEG) meeting on Thursday that the group hoped to present Member for Upper Hunter George Souris with the petition in May and had already collected close to 500 signatures.

“We want the Bylong Valley to be a no go area for mining,” she said.

Ms Nancarrow said only state legislation could prevent the spread of mining across prime agricultural land such as the Bylong Valley and surrounding region.

She urged those at the meeting to exercise “people power”, work together and speak out about their concerns.
“It’s not just here, it’s everywhere,” she said. 

“There is no point in getting cranky with the people who work for the mining company or even the mining companies,” she said.

‘We have to get the government to change their mind – we need mandatory laws, not guidelines.” 

The BVPA is lobbying for changes including better consultation with communities and a ban on the trading of exploration licenses between companies.

“Community liaison, clear and transparent dialogue – they [the mining companies] talk about it all the time, but I’ve never come across it myself,” Ms Nancarrow said. 

The RDEG meeting was called to inform residents about mining proposals around the Rylstone district.

The audience viewed a segment from 60 Minutes on coal seam gas mining in Queensland and an excerpt from the US documentary Gasland.

Running Stream Water Users Association (RSWUA) president Jolieske Lips outlined the Centennial Coal’s Inglenook project for mining in the Mt Vincent area.

Ms Lips said Centennial Coal had three exploration licences across the Inglenook project area.

“There is a strong possibility that we are looking at open cut mining at Ilford, which would be a lovely introduction to a scenic area,” she said.

Expansion of existing mining at Kandos, and mining around Clandulla and Rystone were also possibilities, she said. 

Ms Lips said the RSWUA was trying to ensure affected landowners worked together.

“It’s really important to talk to your neighbours,” she said.

“In areas where people have gone their own way, the difference in compensation has been in the order of 10 times.

“You cannot stop people from coming onto your land [to explore], but there is a distinct process that should happen.” 

Ms Lips said the RSWUA was looking for a solicitor with a background in access agreements and the Mining Act willing to act pro bono (without charge) on behalf of local residents.

“We have approached big firms that do pro bono but we are told ‘sorry, conflict of interest’,” she said.

Submission on the NSW Coal & Gas Strategy by EDO

The Environmental Defender's Office submission on the NSW Coal & Gas Strategy has been listed on the Reference Documents page.
View document

Environmental Defender's Office - Community News

 

Discovery event and campaign action Saturday 14th May, 2011
The Gardens of Stone is named because of its spectacular rock formations.
Over 1,088 hectares of public forest within this uniquely scenic and biodiverse area are now at risk of exclusive occupation and destruction by open cut coal mining.
Join supporters at 1.00pm on Saturday 14th May 2011 for a great banner action, photo and discovery event to help Protect the Gardens of Stone, in the western Blue Mountains, NSW.
We guarantee you haven't seen such a wonderful landscape in NSW as the sandstone turrets known as "pagodas".
These formations provide a safe haven for the nests of our iconic Lyrebird and the forests below provide food for Lyrebird chicks.
Event location: Gardiners Gap Trail, Ben Bullen State Forest, NSW.
This event will be conveying public transport users to the site free of charge.
For detailed information on the event:   click here
For detailed map of the event meeting area:   click here
To buy a map of the Gardens of Stone:    click here If you would like someone to speak at an event or meeting on this issue, contact Justin on 0404 824 020.


This event is a community initiative by the   Blue Mountains Conservation Society,   Colong Foundation for Wilderness   and   Rivers SOS.

Gasland on TV - SBS 9.35pm Sunday 1st May

 

Fiona has also passed on this from the SBS website:

Gasland: It is happening all across America - rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the ‘Saudi Arabia of natural gas’. Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground by a hydraulic drilling process called ‘fracking’. But is fracking safe? Josh Fox set out on a journey across America’s heartland to find out. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Guy Sim's Letter in The Land

 

Click on image to enlarge

Minerals Map Tool

From: Denis Wilson

To: Coal Communities email Posting

Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 12:37 AM

Subject: [CoalCommunities] Do it yourself mapping tool of mineral resources.

Here is an incredibly powerful tool anyone can use - to map Australia's mineral resources and Mines, (operational and old ones).
Alternatively you can simply hit the topography button and map any area of Australia and convert it to a printable small scale PDF map and print off any area in Australia you are interested in.

Australia Mines Atlas

www.australianminesatlas.gov.au

Cheers
Denis Wilson

Running Stream group calls for protection for food security, water

ROBYN MURRAY 25 Apr, 2011 

 

The Running Stream Water Users Association (RSWUA) has called on the State Government to consider food and water security in developing a state-wide strategy on coal and coal seam gas mining.

In its submission on the scoping paper for the draft strategy, the RSWUA said food and water security had been highlighted by thinking people as the major concerns of the 21st Century.

“The paper implies that the only land that might be considered for ‘quarantining’ is land that is currently used intensively and/or is very productive,” RSWUA president Jolieske Lips wrote in the group’s submission.

“Surely the opposite approach should be taken as we plan for the decades ahead and thus protect all food producing land, no matter how it is currently being used?

“If we are going to future- proof our food security we need to err on the side of caution.

“With an increasing population and urban expansion obliterating market gardens, future generations will require more not less agricultural land.”

Ms Lips said the recent experience of the Hunter Valley showed that co-existence of agriculture and mining was a myth.

“Sure, small scale underground mining and scattered, open cut can and until recently have co-existed. However, the Hunter Valley experience shows the cumulative impact is devastating on agriculture.”

Ms Lips said to date the State Government had not showed any commitment to preserving water resources, citing the destruction of Woronora Cree, and the deterioration of Woronora Dam and the drying up of the five Thirlmere Lakes in the World Heritage Blue Mountains National Parks as a result of longwall mines.

“In our own area of Running Stream, we are currently battling to have a comprehensive water study done before coal exploration begins,” the submission said.

“Here we have rich basalt farmland with a significant water resource from springs which will be affected by mining.

The RSWUA submission also criticised the scoping paper for bias towards coal development over renewable energy.

Ms Lips said the strategic approach seemed to be that of a global economy: “Sell coal and import food”.

“This bias is further confirmed by another staff comment: ‘If there is a resource we will mine it’.”

The RSWUA has called for a full cost/benefit analysis for all mines, not just “key areas”.

The analysis should be transparent and include all environmental impacts, health costs, and effects on the community such as increased housing costs, road costs, and costs to businesses of skills shortages, the RSWUA says.

The group wants changes to the exploration licence process so that landholders are notified before mining titles are granted, and to include water as a compensable loss.

RSWUA ACCUSES PLANNING DEPARTMENT OF TOTAL BIAS IN FAVOUR OF COAL

The Department of Planning's Coal and Gas Strategy Scoping Paper demonstrates a total bias in favour of coal development over all other industries. This point was highlighted in the Running Stream Water Users Association's submission to the Department last week.

The submission also questioned the process used to approve exploration licenses and mining leases calling for a full cost/benefit analysis that includes health and environment costs.

Legislative changes were also called for in the submission to protect the long term wellbeing of not only our immediate area but the whole of New South Wales.

Read RSWUA full submission.