IN what may be the last throw of the dice for the residents of Bulga opposed to the expansion of the Warkworth and Mount Thorley open cut coal mines, they staged a rally in Sydney on Thursday calling on the Premier Mike Baird to protect their village.
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Held outside the NSW Supreme Court, where the Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association (BMPA) achieved one of its two legal victories, the rally was attended by more than 200 people.
At the centre of the rally was a two-metre high “scales of justice” effigy, which placed coal as the winner over the village of Bulga.
The Supreme Court upheld the original NSW Land and Environment Court judgement delivered by Chief Justice Brian Preston in 2013 to reject the approval of Rio Tinto’s 2010 expansion plans for their Warkworth mine.
Following that judgement, the company prepared another set of plans for not only Warkworth but its neighbouring Mount Thorley mine, which are now awaiting the final Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) determination.
Last week the Department of Planning and Environment completed its assessment of the project and provided its Final Addendum Report to the commission.
Since the original plans in 2010, the department and PAC have always given the project the green light.
Residents have only achieved their victories in the courts.
This time around, BMPA spokesman John Krey is hoping the Premier and his Planning Minster Rob Stokes will intervene to save his beloved community.
In a letter to all the state’s parliamentarians, he writes: “I urgently need you to intervene on our behalf with the Premier and the Planning Minister.
“If the planning law says this damaging project, which will mean the death of Bulga village, is “approvable” then the law must be changed, and it must be changed in time to save Bulga and the woodlands that shelter it.
“Rio Tinto and the NSW Minerals Council have orchestrated a high-profile public campaign to pressure the NSW Government to grant approval of the Warkworth Continuation Project, making the claim that 1300 people will lose their jobs if the approval is not granted because the coal resource at Warkworth cannot continue being mined beyond 2015.
“This is not the case. The Department of Planning has repeated this false claim, saying “Warkworth’s existing consent lapses in 2021, but the mine will reach its approved extraction limits in 2015” and “approving the proposals would mean ongoing employment for the mine’s 1300 workers”.
Mr Krey goes onto state that on the contrary, publicly available information about the coal reserves available to Rio Tinto under their existing development consents shows that the jobs of the Mount Thorley Warkworth workforce do not depend on Rio Tinto securing approval to clear the woodland at Saddle Ridge and expand the mine westward toward Bulga.
Nobody will be thrown out of work if these applications are rejected: however if approved many of us here in Bulga will lose our beloved home, the woodlands and the way of life that we in this village, cherish, he writes.
A spokesman for Rio Tinto said: “Mount Thorley Warkworth has been part of the Singleton community for more than 30 years, provides work for 1300 people and supports hundreds of other businesses across the Hunter Valley and NSW.”
“The mine is currently 4.5 kilometres from Bulga village and would still be around 2.6 kilometres in 2031 at the closest extent of our proposal.
“Our applications meet all of the relevant government policies and regulations, and we are seeking approval to continue operating on land owned by the mine and within existing mining leases.”
The commission will accept additional written comments on the project in relation to the Department’s Final Addendum Report.
Email your comments to pac@pac.nsw.gov.au before 5pm on Friday, November 20. Alternatively, post your comments to the Planning Assessment Commission at GPO Box 3415 Sydney NSW 2001; or fax (02) 9299 9835.
