Glendell Continued Operations Project

Glendell continued operations needs to keep going . ..Glendell have one of the best rehabilitation projects in the Hunter valley , returning the country back to prime grazing lands has always been A key role , " there is cattle grazing next to the operations now and have been for years , and are in great condition " .
.This will project millions back to the local community, and state governments with royalties
..moving the homestead to a local town will enhance its cultural background , " it's just rotting away in paddock now " , and no one can see or even knew about it till now . Glendell will keep it's history going in a new location that can be utilise as a tool for education.

Glendell mine works to the highest standards in the mining industry and is highly focused on safety and environmental impacts. Glendell leads to industry in rehabilitation of its past mined areas. This project will bring hundred of new jobs and keep its existing employees in jobs. This project will also bring millions of dollars in to the local and state economy

According to the Greenhouse Gas and Energy Assessment, The Glendell Continuation Project is consistent with the IPCC’s “high emissions A2 emission trajectory scenario,” which is likely to lead to an increase 3.2°C by 2100. This is associated with increased maximum temperatures, hot days and very severe fire danger days.

This project is not consistent with the public interest, NSW’s climate change policy, nor the principle of inter-generational equity as it will not meet the Paris Agreement temperature goals. The Paris Agreement aims to limit the increase in global temperature this century to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to try to limit the rise further to 1.5°C.

This proposed expansion over the life time of the project will also impact the health of those in the Hunter because of an increase in air pollution by particulate matter and in water loss. This is also not consistent with NSW’s climate change policy which aims to reduce any impacts on the public’s health and wellbeing.

This project is untenable and a negative reflection on the company which did not withdraw the proposal. Support of any expansion of coal mining is no longer in the public interest and that has been most keenly felt in the current wave of bushfires which has climate change as its root cause—with the last five years being the hottest on record which has intensified the effects of the recent major drought.

For Australia to play its role in preventing a 2°C rise in temperature, the Climate Council asserts this requires over 90% of Australia’s coal reserves to be left in the ground, unburned.

mining is important to my family, my community and the state. I fully support the glendell continued operations project and believe it needs approval ASAP so the workers and their families can avoid the stresses of not having their jobs and livelihood threatened.

Dear NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment,
I write to you with urgency as a distressed citizen of Newcastle, NSW, encouraging you not to approve the extension of the life of the Glendell mine to 2044, which also proposes an increased extraction rate of up to 10 Mtpa of ROM coal. This proposed extension and increase in rate are grossly ignorant to the current climate disaster that we are faced with.
We know that Australia has one of the highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the world. For 0.3% of the world’s population, we release a staggering 1.3% of the world’s greenhouse gases.
In recent years we have been faced with a myriad of extreme manifestations of climate change which are directly linked to the burning of fossil fuels and subsequent carbon dioxide emissions including;
- Extreme bushfires
- Highest ocean temperatures
- Coral reef bleaching episodes
- Extreme heat waves
- Record high temperatures
All of which have devastating flow on effects.
It is difficult to ignore.
I cannot sit back as a citizen of Newcastle and watch this project go ahead, and I know there many others who stand with me.
So please, consider the enormity of what this mine proposes. It crucial that we stand up and reconsider our industry and make rapid changes for the sake of ourselves, our families, and our futures. Newcastle need no longer be considered the engine room of the state.
I thank you for taking the time to read my submission.
I hope that we can move forward together and make change.
Warm regards,
Concerned citizen

This proposal is grossly ignorant to the current climate disaster that we are faced with. Australia has one of the highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the world. For 0.3% of the world’s population, we release a staggering 1.3% of the world’s greenhouse gases. We need to put more focus on using renewables and sustainable energies to better help our environment and ecosystems.

I wish to oppose the proposal to expand the Glendell operation.

As the climate crisis is now upon us it is unconscionable to continue mining coal. For decades the consensus of international climate science community has consistently told us what would happen if we allowed global heating to continue unchecked. Earlier fires and increased intensity of fires was what was predicted as was increased droughts and increased flooding. This has all now become a reality for our own communities. The tragedy of this is that it could have been avoided if we had acted in time.

While we have lost lives and homes and are likely to have lost species as a result of these fires, there is much worse to come unless we stop generating emissions. We need to take responsibility for both local and scope 3 emissions. I hope that this is a strong consideration of the panel even if it is not yet built officially into NSW planning law. Our planning and environment laws are demonstrably weak and need considerable updating and so we are relying on your common sense.

I also object to this project on the grounds that it will continue to damage precious water resources and will create additional air pollution which is already an issue in the area. The cumulative impacts need to be taken into consideration. I do not believe that any proposed offset would be acceptable for a project of this nature.

Sincerely,
Charlotte McCabe
Tighes Hill
NSW
2297

I worry about the future of my local area. Everywhere around me I see rivers running dry, animals dying, and people's health deteriorating. I don't think the Glendell Project is an ethical or environmental one. Please consider future generations and stop the progress of this project.

The assessment admits that the project is consistent with the IPCC’s “high emissions A2 emission trajectory scenario.” The A2 scenario is projected to result in warming by approximately 3.4C by 2100. As the greenhouse assessment outlines, this scenario is associated with increased maximum temperatures, hot days and severe fire danger days. We are already experiencing the runaway effects of changing conditions as over a million hectares of NSW has burnt this year. We don't solve this by driving hay bales from WA or ute loads of Mt Franklin to firefighters.

Unconscionable lack of respect for the planet with this project.

The government has to take responsibility for global warming and carbon reduction.

Future coal expansion projects and greed cannot be permitted to continue at the expense of the world population.

This has to be made illegal!

I would like to submit a letter in support of the continued operations at Glendell Open Cut mine near Singleton. My name is Suzanne Turner, I am a Production Operator at Glendell employed through Programmed, I have been at the Pit for almost two years and in other pits in the Valley for the past seven years. Glendell is a great place to work with a welcoming and team orientated culture. They are also very active in the local community supporting many events and local schools etc.
My husband and I lost everything we had worked for in 2009, our business crashed along with thousands of other small businesses in the GFC at that time. We lost our home and all our savings as well. It is very hard to start again in your mid forties, thats where mining came into our lives. Our son is a Plant Mechanic who works for a company who rebuild and repair mining equipment in Singleton, our Son in law is a Mechanical Fitter at Glendell on the same crew as me and our daughter works at a medical centre in Singleton. So we followed them to Singleton and to search for employment, being of a mature age, finding work on the coast or in small towns is near impossible. We gained employment in industries that support the mines, I then gained a trainee ship as an operator and we haven't looked back.
My point is that because of mining we have been able to rebuild our lives, we have purchased a home in Singleton, as has our son and our daughter and son in law are building their second home in the area. We are just one small family who now live and spend in Singleton. We have three grandchildren in local schools and none of us are planning on leaving the area any time soon.
Glendell has so many people relying on this extension that are similar to us, families that have extended family in the area who all live and contribute to the local economy. We are all aware of environmental issues such as dust and are therefore extremely diligent in our efforts to keep it under control. You mustn't forget, its our families who suffer in town if we aren't on top of it, so naturally we are. Please listen to the voices of the people who really are affected by your decisions and grant the extension to support the township of Singleton and all of the Hunter Valley.
Yours sincerely,

Suzanne Turner

I object to the Glendell Continuation Project.
Glencore proposes a new and bigger mine, seeking an increase to the existing approved rate of mining from 4.5 Mtpa up to approximately 10Mtpa in order to maintain output from the Mount Owen Complex, thus allowing mining to continue for another 22 years.
This Project comes at a time when the community is reeling from an on-going, unprecedented bushfire catastrophe. The community has recognised our governments’ inadequate response to the cumulative impacts of climate change. It is now globally recognized that Australia is both among the countries most exposed to climate catastrophe and one of the worst in terms of contributions to climate change solutions .
Glencore, the world’s biggest thermal coal exporter, states that it has capped its production of thermal coal in order to align its operations with the goals of the Paris climate change agreement. However, in order to have a 50% chance of meeting the IPCC 2 degrees scenario, around 88% of global coal reserves have to stay in the ground. It should not be forgotten, for global benefit, there is an agreed aspirational goal aiming to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
Contrary to their stated commitment to transitioning to a low-carbon economy, Glencore categorically state they aren’t ruling out opening new coal mines, and their aim is to maintain current coal production up until an unspecified future time.
This proposal is driven by anticipated economic outcomes for the proponent and is not reflective of the community’s long-term best interests. There simply is no plausible scenario in which a world that has recognized the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions needs more coal mines. This project is contrary to the community’s understanding of how ‘corporate responsibility’ should work.
For the NSW Government, the temptation of short-term monetary gain must not overrule the ‘precautionary principle’, ‘intergenerational equity’ or ‘ecologically sustainable development’. The government works for the community, not private economic interests. When the true costs of another coal project are considered, particularly for our future generations, there is no unbiased cost benefit analysis that supports further coal mining, morally or economically. Most people now realise that the continuation of coal mining is simply bad economics unless “one refuses to count as a cost the damages and deaths now and in the future from air pollution and climate change” .
Glencore recognizes that 95% of the project’s 230.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emission over the life of the project will occur downstream, and ignore “that if current government and industry projections for fossil fuel exports are realised, Australia could be responsible (including both domestic and exported emissions) for about 13% (between 11.9% - 17.4%) of Paris Agreement compatible global CO2 emissions in 2030”. Importantly, “By far the largest growth would be coming from coal exports”.
The Risk Assessment for the Project fails to acknowledge the likelihood and impacts of worsening and extreme weather events, which not only will affect operations and the surrounding communities but will likely lead to reduced economic returns. The BOM notes that mining operations can be significantly affected by the weather with impacts such as blowing dust, blast noise, severe weather shutdowns and transport delays due to flooding .
The Risk Assessment references the 2014 BOM State of the Climate Report, however subsequent Reports and the 2018 State of the Climate Report document continued, worsening climate conditions:
Key points 2018 Australia
• Australia's climate has warmed just over 1 °C since 1910 leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events.
• Oceans around Australia have warmed by around 1 °C since 1910, contributing to longer and more frequent marine heatwaves.
• Sea levels are rising around Australia, increasing the risk of inundation.
• The oceans around Australia are acidifying (the pH is decreasing).
• April to October rainfall has decreased in the southwest of Australia. Across the same region May–July rainfall has seen the largest decrease, by around 20 per cent since 1970.
• There has been a decline of around 11 per cent in April–October rainfall in the southeast of Australia since the late 1990s.
• Rainfall has increased across parts of northern Australia since the 1970s.
• Streamflow has decreased across southern Australia. Streamflow has increased in northern Australia where rainfall has increased.
• There has been a long-term increase in extreme fire weather, and in the length of the fire season, across large parts of Australia.
Global
• Concentrations of all the major long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to increase, with carbon dioxide (CO 2) concentrations rising above 400 ppm since 2016 and the CO 2 equivalent (CO 2-e) of all gases reaching 500 ppm for the first time in at least 800,000 years.
• Emissions from fossil fuels continue to increase and are the main contributor to the observed growth in atmospheric CO2.
• The world’s oceans, especially in the southern hemisphere, are taking up more than 90 per cent of the extra energy stored by the planet as a result of enhanced greenhouse gas concentrations.
• Global sea level has risen by over 20 cm since 1880, and the rate has been accelerating in recent decades.
• Globally averaged air temperature has warmed by over 1 °C since records began in 1850, and each of the last four decades has been warmer than the previous one.

Unacceptable, Key Risk Issues from this proposal include:
• Extension of mining in a heavily mined area, exacerbating air pollution and water loss.
• The proponent notes that “past and approved mining within and surrounding the Project Area has significantly modified the regional groundwater and surface water systems and will continue to do so into the future” The mine’s groundwater assessment shows that dramatic drawdown of the coal seam under the Bowman’s Creek alluvium propagates upward into the alluvium and causes drawdown and loss of surface water adding to stress already being experienced in the area from other mines. The groundwater assessment shows cumulative draw down of over 2 metres in the alluvium during the proposed mining operations.
• The mine assessment admits that most air quality monitoring sites in the vicinity of Glendell Mine have experienced at least one day above the national standards for PM10 particulate pollution in the past seven years and some exceeded annual average thresholds in the last two years. Camberwell and Singleton also exceeded the PM2.5 criterion last year. The proponent notes, concentrations will be variable from day to day dependent on the weather, other contributing operations and extreme regional events such as bushfires.
• The EIS uses a low pollution year, 2014, as its base year, setting background air pollution levels at less than half of the pollution concentrations experienced in the vicinity more recently. Nevertheless, the assessment shows intensification of PM2.5 and PM10 air pollution in Camberwell and surrounding areas.
• The Project will result in 230.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases over the life of the project in addition to the greenhouse pollution from the rest of the Mount Owen complex.
• The assessment admits that the project is consistent with the IPCC’s “high emissions A2 emission trajectory scenario.” This is unacceptable. The A2 scenario is projected to result in warming by approximately 3.4C by 2100. As the greenhouse assessment outlines, this scenario is associated with increased maximum temperatures, hot days and severe fire danger days.
• This Project is not consistent with NSW’s climate change policy, the principle of inter-generational equity nor the public interest, as it clearly assumes failure to meet the Paris Agreement temperature goals and ignores its contribution to the worsening climate change impacts for New South Wales.

Future demand for coal will be determined by the development of new technologies and the transition to renewable energy, changing steel production technologies and the pace of global economic growth . The future of the Australian coal industry in the short-term is uncertain. Glencore’s responsibility to its shareholders means that it will propose projects that maximise shareholder value - because it can - with little consideration of what is best for our community and our country.
It is widely recognized that the industries of the future can contribute many more jobs and much more income than today’s coal and gas industries.
This Project should not be approved. The foreseeable demand for coal can be met from existing mines. Building new mines will impose costs on existing, competing mines and other industries – Glencore knows this. The proposal benefits Glencore’s private business case to maximise profit return on existing infrastructure and mining assets contained within the Mount Owen complex, but leaves a lasting environmental legacy and economic void for the community.

Yours faithfully, Megan Benson.

The project will give jobs to people in the hunter and surrounds through direct work with the mine and local contract businesses which is great for community's in the area.

The Current Economic environment needs this project for continued economic growth in the town. Most small businesses are struggling and this project would stimulate growth and its benefits for the whole town.They spend money supporting local small business and community groups as well as local employment.

I live in the Hunter region and I support the Glendell extension. I understand that given the current global and national political view, support for the coal mining industry is not the most popular vote. The reality is to have a greener and more sustainable future we need the resources and the economic strength to build it. The world is moving towards renewable energy but coal still has a role to play. Steel making, concrete manufacturing and electricity are all essential for the utopian dream humanity is striving for, and until technology and economics align, coal is the only option for millions of people around the world at this time.

The extension of Glendell will be great for the area, creating hundreds of high income jobs and giving the people and surrounding communities a huge economic boost. The extension will also raise millions of dollars for the state government and hopefully be reinvested back into communities and infrastructure.

I support the Glendell continuation as Glendell has been my employer for almost 10 years, which has allowed my wife & I to raise our 3 children in Singleton. This, in turn, allows us to support our local community in many ways, including spending our money locally to support other jobs & businesses.

I support the Glendell Continued Operations Project as Glendell mine is our families main source of income. Along with this we are a local family that supports our local community thanks to stable employment. We have seen first hand some of the community projects that Glendell & Glencore have contributed to, including our children’s schools & sporting groups that have both benefited from contributions that Glendell has made.

I support the project.

To whom it may concern;

I Brendan Mudd, wish to submit an application of support for the Glendell Continued Operations Project. I have looked at and reviewed all the benefits this project would bring to the local community; through the continuity of existing jobs for local people so they can continue to provide for their families, support for local businesses that supply products and labour to the project for the life of the mine, construction jobs created for the project to construct a new mine infrastructure area and the continued contribution to the local community that Glencore provides.

I also feel that the Glendell Continued Operations Project environmental assessment addresses the key areas of concern from an environment and community point of view e.g. noise, dust, final void and final landforms that utilise natural landform designs. The Glendell Continued Operations Project is located in an area of established mining operations, therefore I see little to no impact on surrounding residence and the mine is also mining in a direction away from the closest residence. I feel Glendell has completed a thorough assessment, executing work at industry best practice and are addressing the project to make sure it has minimal impact on the surrounding environment and community during and after mining.

I have seen first-hand that Glendell takes environmental issues very serious and always look to improve and maintain environmental compliance and has recently been recognised as having industry leading rehabilitation practices.

It is my view that the Glendell Continued Operations Project should be approved, I am making this submission of support for the project on behalf of myself, for my family. I hope this project gets the approval to go ahead so I have continued employment for myself, so I can continue to support and provide for my young family now and into the future.

Regards,
Brendan Mudd

I write in support of the Glendell continued operations project as the approval of this project has a direct impact to my employment within the mining industry.