Hume Coal Mine

SUBMISSION ATTACHED IN IN PDF FORMAT

Please see three attachments

Submission attached.

Attn: Executive Director, Resource Assessments and Business Systems
Planning Services
Department of Planning and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001

Re: Hume Coal Pty Limited (Hume Coal) - State significant development project (SSD 7172)


I would like to express my concerns against the proposed Hume Coal project, and give thanks to the Department of Planning for the opportunity of open engagement with community and individuals.

I moved to the Southern Highlands with my partner and young family at the start of January this year. While I may be considered new comer to the area, I have spent considerable time learning about the region and its history, engaging with its people and becoming familiar with the varied local environments.

The Southern Highlands is a region that boasts quaint charm and idyllic lifestyle. Small and friendly communities are interlinked to larger regional centres, and only short drive or train trip into Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong. The Southern Highlands has moderate to no industrialisation which creates a green belt and adds to the country town atmosphere that is a major drawcard to the majority of people who move into the area. The current culture is sustainable. There is a large range of employment opportunities, low drug and crime rate, and easy access to various health and aged facilities. A range of schools, sporting and extra-curricular activities for students and young people. The Southern Highlands is considered an ideal place for young families and retirees alike.

The Southern Highlands is a popular destination for weekend visitors, and gives rise to further development potential as people seek to migrate out of a densely populated and overpriced Sydney. In order to maintain its charm, it is necessary to recognise elements and areas that need to be guaranteed protection or be lost forever. It is important to now look at the future of the Southern Highlands in effort to develop and implement a strategic plan that will bring the area to its full potential. Any future development of the Southern Highlands must be done in a sustainable manner ensuring natural environments and envied lifestyle are preserved and not sacrificed in the name of `development'.

In order for any project to be given the green light, a certain protocol should be followed. The very first step in this process needs to be the identification of the operator. Just as most working people need to get police checks to gain employment, background history of companies needs to be taken into consideration. Hume Coal is owned 100% by South Korean giant, POSCO.
POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a multinational company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. Founded in April 1968, POSCO was established as a joint venture between the Korean Government and TaeguTec, when it was concluded that self-sufficiency in steel and the construction of an integrated steelworks were essential to economic development of South Korea. Funding for the initial plant was provided by Japan who saw the national security of the Republic of South Korea as essential to the security of Japan. Finance included $US119million in government grants and loans, and credit of US $54million from the Export-Import Bank of Japan. POSCO began production of sheet metal in 1972.

With local demand and that of China as manufacturing ramped up, by the late 1980's POSCO had become the world's fifth largest steel producer, it had opened up a number of mills in Pohang and supplied domestic manufacturing with a range of products for car and home appliances, shipbuilding, construction and electric motors and transformers.

With a shift to privatization, shareholders and foreign investment, along with a rise in global competition, POSCO began looking elsewhere for new opportunity. South Korean wages were considered too high to support a whole range of activities and by 2006, POSCO had established 26 subsidiaries and began manufacturing steel in China to supply global auto and appliance making plants that had been established there. POSCO has since moved into a number of developing countries including Mexico, Vietnam, Cameroon and Indonesia, making the most of cheap labor.


Pohang in the 1960s was a small coastal city fishing port with a population of 50,000 and whose major industry was processing fish and marine products. It became a major industrial center with the development of POSCO's steel mills and the population swelled to more than 520,000 people. In addition to the huge integrated steel mill, Pohang became an industrial complex for the manufacturing of finished steel products. Today Pohang is possibly South Korea's most heavily polluted cities. Claims were made that POSCO's activities are responsible for high levels of airborne dioxins, although this is debatable. However, POSCO is recognized as a major contributor of South Korea's greenhouse gases, prompting the announcement that POSCO would spend $44.1 million combating its emissions(1).

A background check identifies numerous human rights abuses and environmental negligence found against POSCO(2). POSCO has been found responsible for the displacement of tens of thousands of people in India(3) and Burma(4), child and forced labour in Uzbekistan(5). In 2006 POSCO was exposed as having disrespect for fundamental human rights after a South Korean union member was savagely beaten, resulting in his death during a support rally for a peaceful sit-in being held by thousands of POSCO's employees(6).



POSCO, Daewoo Intl also lost investor funding over palm oil holdings in Indonesia and New Guinea(7). The Palm Oil industry has not only displaced local human populations, but has forced such animals as the orangutan, Sumatran tiger and rhinoceros, pygmy elephants and sun bears to the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction. The burning of forests and mass land clearing has been identified as major cause of air pollution and contributor to localised weather and climatic changes.

Hume Coal (POSCO) has continued with its blatant display of disregard towards human values as has set about dividing the close knit community of the Southern Highlands. In attempt to try gain social licence, Hume Coal has handed out $1.4million dollars to local sporting clubs, community radio stations and schools. It has done this under the guise of `caring for community', but has unfortunately showed its true colours through the use of social media. Hume Coal claims its Facebook page aim is "to provide the community with the real facts about the Hume Coal Project and engage on topics important to you." However, Hume Coal continuously avoid or ignore genuine questions from concerned and informed public, while encouraging arguments from those who are for the mine, further driving a wedge between the community. Hume Coal used a demeaning manner to openly attack those who showed any opposition to the project, and failed to engage in meaningful or informative conversation. In doing so, Hume Coal has displayed its contempt for the Southern Highland's residents and business owners, and damaged the area's renowned friendly nature by causing anger and division within the immediate and surrounding community.
With any major project, especially with one that presents various aspects of risk, all areas need to be thoroughly studied prior in order to recognise and understand possible impacts. Numerous areas including environment, air quality, ground and surface water, noise, human and animal health, current and future land uses, social and cultural values, and economy, need to be studied in minute detail. It is only through the complete and thorough study that a comprehensive understanding of the region can be gained. The intimate knowledge of an area can then be used to identify all possible impacts, and only then can a protective framework be developed and implemented in order to minimize impacts.

It is unacceptable that a company be taken on its word only. Each company should be able to clearly demonstrate that they have taken in to consideration all possible elements of risk. Murphy's Law dictates that what can go wrong will go wrong. It is essential with a project such as this as proposed by Hume Coal, that the worst case scenario of the worst case scenario is looked at in minute detail in an effort to be protective and not reactive when the unexpected happens. This is a task that I believe Hume Coal has failed considerably.

A thorough internet search reveals very little information about Hume Coal's proposed method of extraction, the pine-feather technique. This technique, sometimes referred to as the modified Wongawilly method, should not be confused with Wongawilli block extraction method. The small amount of literature available on pine-feather technique hints that this is a relatively minimally used method of extraction, its use is only described in some smaller Chinese coal mines, and it is somewhat avoided due to safety issues(8). Given the small amount of literature available, the safety issues can not properly be identified, and Hume Coal's word of `innovative technique designed to minimise impacts' cannot (and should not) be taken on face value.

It should be recognised that water is in fact our most precious resource and should be protected at all cost. Water is essential for all life. Despite the common misconception that `it will rain and replenish', water is a finite resource. Localised weather and climatic changes mean that continued rainfall patterns cannot be guaranteed making it essential that water be protected above all. It cannot be wasted, contaminated, or removed from the natural system, without impacting existing and future generations. People have lived in Australia for at least 40,000 years, and it is up to the people now to ensure there is adequate clean fresh water for the next 40,000 years or more.


Hume Coal project poses risk to water in a various forms:

* Creeks, rivers and important water catchment areas are at risk from toxic waste water spills. Spills can occur through acts of nature such as flood or earthquake, failed or faulty infrastructure, human error, accident and negligence.

* Land subsidence can result in fractures and resultant water flow diversions within creek beds, and impact groundwater systems resulting in loss of aquifer.

* Changed hydrogeological conditions which resulting loss of moisture within soil, impacts trees and other vegetation, and slows recharge of aquifers.

* Pumping and draining of groundwater can lead to over extraction of aquifers resulting in reduced water levels and in some cases total loss of water.

* The process of acid mine drainage can take place on the surface and below ground when the exposed coal and rock minerals come into contact with air and water. This process can impact surface and ground water quality by lowering the pH. Upon entering surface water, acid mine drainage can have adverse health impact on aquatic animals, insects and plants.

* Hume Coal plans to bury its waste ash, rock and water in mine tunnels which are then sealed with cement. Toxic water can escape from these tunnels and enter groundwater systems if the cement plugs and seals are compromised through either accident, human error or natural processes such as corrosion, or integrity failure and cracking due to natural pressures and earthquakes.

* Greenhouse gas emission from mining processes, including the release of methane into atmosphere, the burning of thermal coal and steel making processes will all add to rapidly changing climate in which we have no guarantee of continued rainfall patterns, and increased evaporation from rising temperatures.



Despite Hume Coal's suggestion that pine-feathering will prevent subsidence, there is no actual proof that this is true. All underground mines are subject to subsidence. Underground coal mining in China has been directly linked to land subsidence and water contamination(9,10), at the detriment of the country's ability to grow and supply enough food for its ever growing population. It is vital that we do not let Australia follow the same path. Already in Tahmoor we can see the impacts of land subsidence from underground coal mining, with sunken land, damaged houses and the draining of 15,000 million year old World Heritage Thirlmere Lakes(11).

Ongoing monitoring of all buried waste, water quality and land subsidence needs to be perceptual, and at a cost to Hume Coal and not to the Australian tax payer. Any future remediation or remuneration costs, for damaged infrastructure, homes, or business caused by water quality or quantity loss and land subsidence, must be paid for by Hume Coal. A perpetual and increasing insurance bond against any damages, he held in eternal trust.

Hume Coal's main draw card for this project is the 300 promised jobs for locals. Hume Coal states that these are real jobs for real people, keeping young people in the Shire. However, at recent presentation to Wingecarribe Shire Council, Hume Coal confirmed already there been 450 expressions of interest for jobs mainly by existing miners. This is simply a job transfer for those already employed, and not creating new jobs. Despite Hume Coal's claims that there will be jobs created, consideration has to be taken for the jobs that will be lost in other industries including farming and tourism should water or landed be effected in a detrimental manner. Consideration for the Australian steel manufacturing industry which is currently under threat from falling coal prices and cheaper Asian supply. Hume Coal may provide work transfer for 300 miners, but will have impact on many thousands of jobs across the Southern Highlands and Illawarra region.

Considering the amount of risk that is presented, and the very limited benefits that will be returned, I urge the Government to reject this project. I ask the Government protect the Southern Highlands from the impacts of coal mining, and work towards development of a sustainable future which encourages long term industries that create jobs for locals and benefits other Australian industries.



Yours sincerely,

Charmaine Roth


1. The Korea Bizwire
http://koreabizwire.com/posco-makes-additional-investment-to-counter-air-pollution/80924

2. Business and Human Rights Resource Centre: POSCO search results
https://business-humanrights.org/en/search-results?langcode=en&keywords=posco&pagenum=0

3. The Price of Steel: Human Rights and Forced Evictions in the POSCO-India Project
International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
https://www.escr-net.org/resources/price-steel-human-rights-and-forced-evictions-posco-india-project

4. Recommendation on the exclusion of Daewoo International Corporation, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd., GAIL India, Korea Gas Corporation and POSCO from the investment universe of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global
http://etikkradet.no/files/2017/02/Recommendation_Burma_2012.pdf

5. POSCO Daewoo - Investors withdraw due to severe human rights abuses in the supply chain
RepRiskESG Business Intelligence
https://www.reprisk.com/content/5-publications/4-case-studies/5-poscodaewoo/reprisk-case-study-posco-daewoo.pdf

6. Striking POSCO worker dies:
https://business-humanrights.org/en/so-korea-striking-posco-worker-dies-after-beating-by-police

7. Mongabay: Norway's wealth fund expels POSCO, Daewoo Intl over palm oil holdings
https://news.mongabay.com/2015/08/norways-wealth-fund-expels-posco-daewoo-intl-over-palm-oil-holdings/

8. Introduction to linear mining - underground coal
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwigxePehOXUAhXEwLwKHTF1DdEQFggoMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.undergroundcoal.com.au%2Facarp_dev%2FFiles%2520for%2520testing%2520MINI%2520GOOGLE%2FLinear%2520Mining%2FElectra%2520Mining%2520presentation%2520on%2520linear%2520mining.doc&usg=AFQjCNE8-p7jXoac2itXkAqEDheaPfHyzA

9. Environmental impacts coal mining in China
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674526409601873

10. Homes and farmland swallowed by subsidence in coal mining regions
Global Times: 2017/2/13
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1032689.shtml

Thirlmere Lakes
ABC News May 2016
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi1x5rQheXUAhVCu7wKHRvXA1gQFggmMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2016-05-29%2Fcoal-mining-to-blame-for-poor-state-of-thirlmere-lakes%2F7455320&usg=AFQjCNFIfl-4NcpI-8DyX_6PAEf0jBqcWg

Included at File attachment 1
FinPrintSubTo oxps.pdf

Submission attached in pdf form

Long form submission attached

See attached

Submission attached

Hydroilex Pty Ltd has been actively involved in the exploration and development of significant groundwater resources in the region for over 20 years, assisting landholders in obtaining a wide variety of licenses for water abstraction. We stand by our numerous clients in preserving the natural groundwater environment and beauty of the region without unnecessary damage by mining activities.

John Lee

I have known "Araluen" and Wells Creek since I was about 18 - and I have just turned 60 - so that makes it 38 years. My parents bought their original holding in about 1976 or 1977. My family - my Mum and Dad and my four siblings used to camp out on the farm, and cook dinner on a campfire made from dead timber fallen from the gum trees on the property. We built all of the fences by hand - I still remember the old Ford Tractor with its post hole digger that we nicknamed "The Widow Maker"! We could not afford fencing contractors, and all of our fences and the cattle yards were built by my parents and their five teenage children. We would ride our horses around the farm during the day and we even built a few cross-country jumps for our horses from fallen trees and rocks on the property - little did we know what "Araluen" would later become famous for.
At the end of 1977, we chose a place for the house and proudly watched it built by our builders, the Zealey Brothers. We then built a post and rails fence - with recycled posts and rails - and planted out the garden and the lawns by hand. We were very proud that the garden was, some years later, opened to the public to raise money for charities.
We subsequently have planted - and this is only an approximate guess - about 4,000 trees around the property. Many, if not all of these trees would likely die if the water table drops significantly, as the Hume Coal EIS states that it will likely do. For the last 40 years my parents have driven tractors, towing water tankers, to water these trees until they can grow independently. We have watered trees directly and even installed dripper lines to get these trees to survive their early days. This was a real labour of love, particularly in the severe doubts that we had in the early eighties, again in the mid- nineties, again in the early naughties, and finally a few years ago. When some trees died, I watched my parents replant, water and nurture the replacement trees. Sometimes it took two or three goes to get these trees going.
It appals me that Hume Coal counts this as just a little "collateral damage", with minimal mention in its EIS of the effects of lowering the water table. Sorry, Hume Coal - this is the same as a prolonged drought - and you say that it will go on for the commercial life of the mine but will recover over the next few decades after the mine is decommissioned. I don't think this is good enough.
This mine is not needed. Coal is a dirty, non-renewable energy source, a left over from the industrial revolution. Over the last decade we have become more aware of the global effects of burning fossil fuels and the price that mankind and the environment will pay. And over the last few years the world has made great progress in alternative energy sources - particularly renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal, to mane just a few. So how does Hume Coal feel for my parents and their hand-nurtured trees? Or anything else that my family has worked for developing our farm?
Hume Coal have carefully bought up a few strategic properties around the mine footprint - but there is no compensation for my parents, who have seen the price of their land drop by about 40% since Hume Coal first proposed their mine. No offer from Hume Coal! (Not that they want to sell their beautiful property!). No compensation for the loss of environment, trees, or groundwater. Nothing but legal bullying for them, singled out with a small number of other property owners for a litigation-filled intimidation, to try to intimidate all the other property owners by example. My parents have spent tens of thousands of dollars of their own money trying to resist the Hume Coal juggernaut. This is not what they deserve in their final years of retirement - after all the effort that they have made to develop "Araluen" and after all their years of contribution to our local rural society, working as a GP and a pharmacist respectively.
But back to my story! In the early 1980s, my parents bought the adjoining holding which stretched up to the Hume Highway. Again, we fenced it with just the labour of the family and the grunt of the old white Ford tractor. Thousands of trees were planted, some in tree guards in paddocks, some in tree lanes along the boundaries and environmentally selected places. Today, when one drives around "Araluen", it is stunning how many beautiful and mature trees decorate what was forty years ago virtually bare. In the late eighties, we often rode our horses around the big farm, and built more cross-country fences to train our horses over.
By 1991, encouraged by two Australian Equestrian Olympians, we as a family decided that we would run an equestrian event at "Araluen". We formed a club, "Berrima Horse Trials", a committee to run the event and held numerous working bees with local volunteers. Suffice it to say that 26 years later, Berrima Horse Trials thrive at "Araluen" - the club hold its two to three events plus various school and Pony Club events each year and is frequently used for training, at no charge by the owners. It is one of the most prestigious events in the country, with many permanent and portable cross country jumps, as well as jumping and dressage arenas. Many thousands of hours of volunteer work and re-invested profits from the club, however, in the judgement of Hume Coal, this did not constitute a significant improvement.
Eventually, however, the NSW Land and Environment Court did recognise the scope of the improvements. Hume Coal, on the other hand, did not give a toss. This is typical of this Korean company's view of the human element affected by this proposed development. It is just about money, and there is no respect for the locals, their accumulated efforts and assets and the less tangible aspects of life quality. Must the dollar always trump the human being and the quality of our lives?
As a doctor, I am not impressed by either the quality or veracity of Hume Coals scientific statements - for example, they say that all the mine washings will be stored underground and will have no effects on the quality of the subterranean water or the water that will flow into the Sydney Catchment. Blind Freddie could tell you that the capacity of the mine to store water will be grossly inadequate to store both the water pumped out of the mind and the water used to process and wash the coal prior to transport. Likewise, who would believe Hume Coal's claims that its new extraction method, known as first-workings, is designed to preserve the long-term stability of the overlying strata and landscape above, when it has never been used in Australia before. What if they are wrong, and there is significant subsidence. This would totally ruin the Berrima Horse Trials arenas and cross country tracks.
I am concerned about the coal dust and its effect on the environment, the coal trains and their addition to noise and pollution. I am concerned at the most inappropriate juxtaposition of the mine and the heritage area of Berrima and Sutton Forest. While Hume Coal has spent large sums of money trying to win the hearts and minds of everyone in the district, for example by sponsoring the local darts and tiddly-winks teams, and make promises of huge numbers of jobs both in construction and in running - these claims have ben shown in many other mining developments to be vastly inflated.
The bottom line is that no one wants Hume Coal - the immediate locals living on or close to the mine footprint, the residents of the greater Wingecarribee region or the citizens of our planet. Coal is an old dirty and polluting technology and we should not perpetuate the blight of this energy source on this planet or our fields. Think Global, Act Local!
Dr Vince Roche 30.6.17

I am unable to attach PDF submission

Rod Blay

11:25 pm
Friday 30/6/2017

Please call me 0400891189

To The Premier, Ministers and Departments
Please find attached my submission in response to Hume Coal's EIS and their proposed Berrima Rail Project (7171) and their Hume Coal Project (7172) both of which I strongly oppose.

We strongly object to The Hume Coal Project!!

Background:
* Our 40ha Farm (and Home) is located in the designated mining area (Lot 8 DP883697).
* We have a Licence from Department of Primary Industries to extract up to 80.0 megalitres of water per annum. Licence 10CA111918, Bore GW102916
* We have spent 17 Years developing a highly successful 2,000 Olive Tree Grove
* We have won Awards and Medals from all over Australia (see attachment)
* We spent several years finding a property with the right climate, the right soils and drainage and an abundance of pristine water.
* Our Bore, which produces beautiful (Potable) Water, sits at 108m underground in the Hawkesbury Sandstone Layer, just above the Coal-seam.
Personal Impact of the project to date:
* My husband, Matthew, became ill about 2 years ago, due to the unrelenting bully tactics of Hume Coal on our neighbours, friends and ourselves over the past 7 years.
* 14 months ago he was diagnosed with Depression
* He could not get out of bed in the mornings
* He lost all interest in Life, Work and the farm.
* He began to experience major panic attacks
* He collapsed, almost had a Cardiac Arrest, (as diagnosed by the Ambulance who were called at 10pm, on the night) and then spent 3 days hospitalised in ICU, and a further 3 days in the general ward when it was realised he had also broken his leg when he collapsed.
* He is now on medication and receiving counselling
* I have had to watch his complete inability to function on a daily basis.
* I am now also seeing a counsellor in an attempt to avoid going into depression myself.
* He was also using Alcohol as self-medication which has almost destroyed our 30 year marriage
* My 2 daughters have witnessed all of this. My husband is now having to work very hard to re-build their trust.
If the project was approved:
* Our water supply will be destroyed (no matter what type of spin Hume Coal try to put on this)
* Hume Coal say their proposed mitigation is to replace the bore. But they cannot prove that will work....
* Considering our entire property is above the mine plan and we only have 40ha....this "bore replacement" is more wishful thinking than anything else
* We don't have town water so trucking 80 million litres every year is the next option.
Consequences of the above:
* 17 years of blood, sweat and tears will be destroyed
* The largest supplier of `Multi-Award Winning' Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the Southern Highlands destroyed
* Agri-tourism to our farm will be destroyed
* 2 jobs lost
* Expansion plans and employment of an additional 2-4 people, will be lost.
* Hume say they will create jobs but they have never addressed all the jobs that will be lost.
Personal Impact if Hume Coal Project goes ahead
* We will be financially destroyed....the Bank has already devalued our property by 40%.
* We will no longer be able to borrow any money for expansion
* Our whole business, primary production and lifestyle will be destroyed

We have always firmly believed that we are stewards of the land that we are privileged to own. We must always fight to leave it in better condition than we bought, for the future generations.
Hume Coal does not appear to have any interest in doing this !!!

Please refer to attached submission

Submission attached

see attached.

Hume Coal

Hume Coal

Hume Coal