After fighting long and hard to protect their beautiful valley from the perils of Coal Seam Gas extraction, Groundswell Gloucester is determined to stop the Rocky Hill Coal Project.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Despite tinkering around the edges, Gloucester Resources Limited (GRL) second attempt at gaining approval to develop a new open-cut mine 900 metres from a residential estate has been met with fierce opposition from the majority of local residents.
After asking the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) to place their original application on hold in June 2015, GRL’s grand plan now involves:
- developing and operating an open-cut coal mine, to produce up to 2 million tonnes of run-of-mine (ROM) coal per year for up to 21 years;
- constructing and operating a private coal haul road to link the Rocky Hill Coal Project with the Stratford Coal Complex, approximately 9 kilometres to the south;
- and, hauling coal on the private coal haul road between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm only from Monday to Saturday.
Gloucester Groundswell says this is “unacceptable”, and to their relief so does the newly formed mid-coast council.
Hand-picked administrator, John Turner, has stated he “believes this coal mine proposal is simply in the wrong place”.
He is not the only one, and the battle hardened group has presented over 1000 community submissions to the DPE pointing out “the mine is less than one kilometre from the Forbesdale residential estate and within five kilometres of Gloucester’s schools, hospital and most of its residents’ homes.”
And, this time around they are demanding the state government reject the damaging project outright.
Groundswell Gloucester Chair Julie Lyford says the proposal should not be referred to the Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC).
“The department should knock this proposal on its head, and they should also revoke the exploration licenses," she says.
“If they don’t the Baird Government will have a political nightmare on their hands.”
“This is no place for a coal mine. It’s unacceptable for our community to be put at risk of particulate pollution from open-cut mining, which is known to lead to reduced respiratory health and increased death rates in surrounding communities.”
“Gloucester is home to a thriving $50 million tourism industry and protecting its sustainability along with the health of our community, is worth far more than the dubious economic claims being made by the mine’s proponents.”
“Simply putting conditions on the mine will not be enough to protect our community, which has no reason to trust conditions will be complied with, based on past experience in Gloucester and the Hunter Valley of conditions, such as night-time work hours, being changed.”
Although they are pleased Minister Stokes is looking into the inadequate Environmental Impact Assessment process, they are “tired” of the mindset that has existed within the state government, and the bureaucracy, in regard to land-use conflicts.
She can vividly recall being told over a decade ago by the government of the day - “if there is a resource in the ground we will harvest it.”
The long-term local resident, former mayor, and councillor can trace this attitude back to a government document written in 1994, titled ‘Effects of Land Use on Coal Resources’.
She says it outlined how “mining is threatened by agriculture and national parks”, and it appears to many, the beginning of the disproportionate power of the mining industry, and the growing disempowerment of communities across the Hunter and beyond.
Adding to this is the climate emergency we are facing, Ms Lyford says.
“Renewable energy is the future, digging up and burning fossil fuels is not conducive to reducing global warming.The government needs a plan for transitioning to renewables.”
