AN ACTION plan for the coal industry was nutted out on Friday after four hours of debate. Facilitated by the NSW Minerals Council, the meeting brought together representatives from the industry and community groups concerned with mining to identify the issues that cause the most angst between the two sides. “It is about sitting down together to look at the issues, it is about identifying the outcomes and working out how we can achieve these outcomes,” said NSW Minerals Council chief executive officer Dr Nikki Williams. A Singleton bypass and fixing the ‘hole in the wall’ at McDougalls Hill was top of the social impact list for the town. So was hiring local people to fill the highly paid jobs. The meeting recognised the need to focus on training facilities to address the skills shortage. The NSW Minerals Council was also asked to advocate for a set of health risk assessment guidelines to be incorporated into all future mining exploration licences. The group also determined the 1999 synoptic plan on integrated landscapes for coal mine rehabilitation in the Hunter Valley should be urgently revised and implemented. A raft of issues surrounding social impacts, water, dust, health, rehabilitation and land use were raised and, at times, debate was heated. The NSW Minerals Council gave a commitment to the process and will now complete a report on all the ideas and act accordingly. “There are concepts we can work on immediately, I am in a position to advocate for infrastructure money to be spent in the Upper Hunter,” Dr Williams said. “But there are also ideas that aren’t practical. “The mining industry is committed to thinking and doing things differently to ensure a better future for the Upper Hunter,” she said. The newly formed Hunter Communities Network ‘Reclaiming our Valley’ also presented the meeting with four dot points to consider. They want: • All coal trains covered through to the Port of Newcastle. • Use improved and uniform blasting product to eliminate toxic orange brown emissions. •Support a comprehensive regional study on the impacts of current operations on surface and groundwater systems in the Hunter. •Rehabilitation of mine sites at the same rate of disturbance.