Mod 1 - Time Extension

I object to Wollongong Coal's application for a time extension for its Wongawilli Colliery - Major Project 09_0161, Modification 1 because of the reasons outlined below.

Sydney's drinking water must be protected and safeguarded from contamination because 4.6 million people within Greater Sydney rely on it.The risks of contamination from longwall mining exist and any level of risk is just too high to accept.

Sydney should not allow longwall mining in publicly owned drinking water catchments. Sydney should join the rest of the world and ban longwall mining in drinking water catchments, whether publicly or privately owned.

Multi-seam mining poses high levels of uncertainty and risks to the water catchment area in the case that the overlying coal seams have already been mined.

I do not accept that Woolongong Coal is able to safely carry out this project. The Nebo 2 longwall collapsed in February 2014 and this poses increased risk of Wollongong Coal's capacity to conduct the project safely. Further, the Nebo longwalls are close to the Cordeaux Reservoirs No 1 and No 2, which poses significant risks to the water catchment area.

Little to no economic impact will result if this application is not approved. The Wongawilli Colliery is currently in care-and-maintenance mode.

Longwall mining damages water catchment areas by causing cracked and dried up river and creek beds, damaged and dessicated swamps, damage to and leakage from major storage dams and contamination of water.

The risks to our future water supply far outweighs any benefit to be gained.
During drought the catchment runs very low without losing more water to mines.
Those approving mining in our catchments are being treasonous to the Australian people and May history judge them harshly!
Commonsense is all that is needed. The cost of a desalination plant should be gained as a safety deposit to ensure future water resources!
This is a risky unviable proposition! Please refuse it for my grandchildrens sake!

I wish to object to the proposed extension of the work at Wongawilli as it would endanger the supply of water to the catchment area of the city of Sydney.
The extensive long wall mining in the Sydney catchment has already resulted in several instances of creek bed settlement and reduction in the quantity of potable water into the dams which retain Sydneys water supply.
At a time when our population continues to increase the probable shortage of water seems sheer folly.

Wollongong Coal's modification application to extend the approved duration of mining operations at the NRE Wongawilli Nebo Area Project by 5 years raises many concerns and questions.
This project could negatively impact Avon Dam, Cordeaux Dam, Upper Cordeaux No. 1 Dam, Upper Cordeaux No. 2 Dam and associated watercourses. The longwalls are too close to the Cordeaux Reservoirs No 1 and No 2 and associated watercourses to risk further reckless and careless mining mishaps. Longwall mining has already damaged major storage dams, causing leaking and contamination of water.
Our own water quality experts, Sydney Catchment Authority objected to the proposed mining, in particular the drivage.
Does the company have the necessary expertise to safely operate, given the collapse of the longwall Nebo 2 in February last year?
How can we trust such a company, when it failed to provide adequate financial reporting?
What happens if substantial damage occurs to the water catchment and storage system of Sydney because of this mining?
What guarantee will the public have that this company will at least repair it at their cost?
The cumulative impacts of previous and intended future mining need to be determined before the granting of any approval.
If this modification application is approved, I ask that the COMPANY BE REQUIRED TO PAY A VERY HIGH BOND just in case things do go wrong and the damage needs to be rectified.
Given the Sydney Catchment Authority Special Areas provide drinking water to 4.6 million people in Sydney, why should we risk this essential resource to human survival?

I object to this application for the following reasons:
1. I don't believe that longwall mining should continue in our drinking water catchment Special Areas. I've seen first-hand the damage from mining that has already occurred to upland swamps and waterways and cannot understand why this can be allowed. The long term security of our water supply should have priority over short term monetary gain from mining.
2. This company, especially, should not be given approval to mine in such a sensitive area. They are not financially viable, as their track record at Russell Vale has shown. The company has neither the resources nor the expertise to safely and responsibly carry out the project.

My husband and I wish to object to the extension of Wollongong Coal's Major Project ("MP 09_0161"). Previous accidents have demonstrated the unsafe nature of operations and to allow mining at the Wongawilli Colliery south of Wollongong for another 5 years would be to dangerous. Especially as the mine is located in the Sydney Water Catchment Special Areas, close to major storage dams we need to apply the precautionary principle and put our human wellbeing as the top criteria. The inactivation of the mine following its collapse in March 2014 was a necessary decision that should kept up for ever.

I object to Wollongong Coal's modification application to extend the approved duration of mining operations at the NRE Wongawilli Nebo Area Project by 5 years, to 2020.

The Nebo longwalls directly undermine Wattle Creek and Little Wattle Creek, which feed the Cordeaux No. 2 Reservoir. The longwalls come within 500m of the Cordeaux No. 2 Reservoir.

With Wollongong Coal's record of mining in the area (collapse of the mine early last year) there is way too great a risk of damage to these water reservoirs and dams to allow this project to go ahead.

Longwall mining has already caused damage in Sydney's water catchment, including cracked and dried up river and creek beds, damaged and desiccated swamps, damage to and leakage from major storage dams and contamination of water.

Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA), in its submission, has objected to the Western Drivage, citing a number of risks.

The Sydney Catchment Authority Special Areas provide drinking water to 4.6 million people of Greater Sydney and include large areas of relatively pristine landscape. This area should be protected from longwall mining.

The project fails to consider the cumulative impact of previous and intended future mining. In my view the relatively small economic / employment benefit arising from the project falls way short of justifying its approval.

I object to the application to extend the Wongawilli coal mine. This project is within Sydney's water catchments, including Special Areas. This is part of the drinking water system for four and a half million people. We already have serious damage in our catchments as a result of long wall mining, including the cracked river beds, damaged swamps and leakage and contamination of water. This damage can never be fixed. Safe drinking water is a necessity of life itself and it makes no sense to allow further mining in these areas. Enough is enough. Further to this how can we have any confidence in Wollongong Coal, with their poor financial situation and the remaining buried longwall mining equipment after the mine collapse last year.
The extension project should not be approved.

I object to Wollongong Coal's application for a time extension for its Wongawilli Colliery - Major Project 09_0161, Modification 1 because i have seen the massive damage this company has cause in the past. Also

Nebo longwalls - The Nebo longwalls directly undermine Wattle Creek and Little Wattle Creek, which feed the Cordeaux No. 2 Reservoir. Furthermore, the longwalls come within 500m of the Reservoir itself. Despite being granted approval to mine the Nebo longwall panels in 2011, the company failed to make a start until 2013. In February 2014, not long after the commencement of the first panel, mining was abruptly halted; the mine had collapsed and buried the longwall mining equipment when Wollongong Coal tried to take a shortcut. The longwall mining equipment remains buried and the mine has been inactive ever since.

Western Drivage - The Western Drivage comprises 4 separate roadways, each 5.5 metres wide extending west from Wongawilli for about 5 km and running directly beneath Avon Dam. Since they were granted approval in 2011 Wollongong Coal has only developed less than 500m of the drivage. The purpose of the drivage is to provide future access to 100 million tonnes of coal in the western area of the company's mining leases. Even though Wollongong Coal don't have approval to mine this vast expanse of coal in the western area, they want access to it because they intend to mine it in the future. Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) objected to the Western Drivage, describing the western area that the underground roadways will provide access to as "a potentially large new mining area in relatively pristine parts of the Schedule 1 Metropolitan Special Area located in the catchments of Avon and Nepean Dams", (Sydney Catchment Authority Submission on the project, December 2010, p. 4). SCA also expressed concern that the drivages may cause water in the Avon Dam to leak into previously mined areas in the vicinity (op cit, p. 4).

- Longwall mining has left a legacy of damage in Sydney's water catchment, including cracked and dried up river and creek beds, damaged and dessicated swamps, damage to and leakage from major storage dams and contamination of water.
- The Sydney Catchment Authority Special Areas provides drinking water to 4.6 million people of Greater Sydney.
- Sydney is the only city in the world that allows longwall mining in a publicly owned drinking water catchments.
- The collapse of Nebo 2 longwall in February 2014 demonstrates that Wollongong Coal is not competent to carry out this mining.
- The Nebo longwalls are too close to the Cordeaux Reservoirs No 1 and No 2 and associated watercourses to risk further reckless and careless mining mishaps.
- The project fails to consider the cumulative impact of previous and intended future mining in the area.
- The unpredictable nature of multi-seam mining poses unacceptable risks where overlying coal seams have already been mined.
- Wollongong Coal has had 5 years to make a go of this mine and they haven't succeeded. The company does not have the resources or the expertise to safely and responsibly carry out the project.
- The Wongawilli Colliery is currently in care-and-maintenance mode therefore, should this application not be approved, there will be negligible or no economic and employment impacts to the region.

1.I strongly object to mining under our main Sydney water supply dams. It is absurd that in a country like Australia where drought is common and currently we are heading for an El Nino event which will further exacerbate the drought situation that there is consideration for a mine that has the potential to undermine our water supply dams.
2. Wollongong Coal has a poor corporate record and doubtful financial backing and so the chances of having the funds to rectify any future damage is very questionable. Particularly as they have had problems with their Nebo 2 longwall operation.
3. There are plenty of examples where longwall mining underneath water supply dams has been disastrous for dams in particular Woronora Dam. The Sydney Catchment Authority objected to the Western Drivage and there views should be taken seriously.

The proposed extensions for Wongawilli mine, undermine some of the best parts of the Sydney Water catchment areas. These include regions with the highest rainfall and catchment effectiveness in the Sydney region.

This is for an industry for coking coal, that is foreign owned (Gujarat), unlikely to be profitable for much longer,, for mostly export coking coal to India. There are not that many jobs involved, and "economic benefits", including state royalties are small compared to long term ecological and economic costs.

The subsidence from long walls from additional works is estimated to be around 400 mm. As this is likely to be a rounded average, then larger subsidence parts in the middle of walls can be expected. More important is the amount of cracking in the underlying sandstone strata, and subsequent drainage of overlying upland swamps that form the basis of the Sydney water catchment.

The area covers substantial parts of the catchments and part of upper reaches of Lake Avon, and Caudaux Reservoir. There are a lot of old pillar mining works, and the new works are part of a long wall near complete coal removal plan. A large igneous sill is said to stablize some of the subsidence tendency.

Unfortunately the departments evaluations of damage to Sydney Water Catchment are not time scaled. Damage, until proven otherwise by complete recovery, is likely to be long term. This should then be multiplied by the amount of water lost or tainted over the entire expected future period of Sydney's dependence on this water supply, and the growing demand, or value of that intact supply.

The mechanisms of economic annuity and depreciation, and lack of timescale make the claims of "economic advantage" of the mining to the community (in terms of jobs, royalties), rather puny. Most of the advantage is accrued overseas by annoymous shareholders in wealthy class. Moreoever, this wealth is frittered away in unneeded luxuries, and a very low fraction will be invested in a more sustainable economy. Longer term loss of service is felt locally. Species loss is forever.

The government, and the coal corporation has a vested interest in presenting a minimized version of ecological loss, with denial of damage, and presents the aggrandizement of temporary economic gain.

As the following Sydney Morning Herald report suggests, the value system of the government and coal companies is skewed towards once-only resource extraction and profit, rather than maintenance of sustainable ecological value. Subsidence has real but too often denied and ignored impacts on swamp ecology. Rehabilitation is not technically possible. Damage is cummulative and will eventually have synergistic and non-linear effects.

"Ecologist says warnings to Centennial Coal on Lithgow mine led to sacking"

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ecologist-says-warnings-to-centennial-coal-on-lithgow-mine-lead-to-sacking-20150703-gi4pe9

The value of the additional coal in this project is marginal, considering the rising energy and material costs of extraction, and falling prices of product. At some time soon, the internal profitability will be exceeded by increased production costs, and lowered external demand.

" Without the proposed layout and sequencing it is unlikely that any of the remaining coal in this area would be mined due to the size of the resource, the restrictions on the amount of extraction and the
lack of suitable infrastructure and services to the area."

This is dying industry, with decreasing marginal profitability, and relatively small local economic benefit, whose emissions are contributing to a reduction in the geological and ecological foundations of Sydney's water supply.

Allowing this project to continue, until its economic collapse, continues to lose much more enduring and sustainable values of life and water, which should be value summed as increasing over centuries, long after our non-renewable parts of civilization expire.

I would like to object to this modification MP 09_0161.
This is not just an extension of timing for the extraction of coal; it is clear proof that Wollongong Coal is an unsuitable company to hold a planning approval and coal license, especially when it is for extraction of coal under our vital water catchment area. The only reason this modification is required is because Wollongong Coal buried their longwall machine through questionable practice and then their inability to refinance another. This alone resulted in the loss of 300 jobs and the mine being placed in care and maintenance.

The EA for this Modification now states that 300 jobs will be created. The Department, the industry and the public know that this figure is grossly exaggerated. WC has previously stated in applications that 300 jobs would be created at their Russell Vale but in truth the mine operates with 181 staff and that includes WC's head office staff. I think that WC should be required to justify their employment numbers and be held accountable for these figures, that is, have it become one of their conditions to operate. The Wongawilli Colliery is currently in care-and-maintenance mode therefore, should this application not be approved, there will be negligible or no economic and employment impacts to the region.

WC is constantly inflating the economic justification of the mine. The figures in the Nebo Mining EA are over 5 years old. These figures are not only inflated but the global economic market has dramatically changed and shows no sign of change in the future. WC should be required to submit up to date realistic figures to justify this project and it socio-economic benefits. Also it should be noted that this public company has been suspended from trading for several months on the ASX. I ask the question is it appropriate that this company be permitted to operate a mine in Australia, especially under the Sydney Water Catchment area.

GHG emissions have been completely ignored on this project. The DoPE shows no leadership in the reduction of GHG emissions. There should be a very extensive program of reduction in GHG emissions at this and all coal mines.

All 2.5 micro particulate matter needs to be monitored at this mine. The 10 micron cloud extends extensively into the current residential area, therefore the 2.5 micron cloud would extend twice as far. There is also no dust generation shown along the train line that cuts through the middle of the Dapto West Release. This is the only exit for the extracted coal and will trained out in uncover wagons. This project is in the middle of one of the largest residential land releases in the Illawarra in years and it is unprecedented that the DoPE would put all these people at risk of respiratory disease.

The noise is a factor that needs to be readdressed. Noise is one of the most complained about factors of this mine and will become even worse when the approved residential area crowd around it.

WC and DoPE have very poor community consultation strategies. It is very clear in this application that both parties just view this application as administrative, as there has been very little to no publicity or information dissemination to the community. The residents in the area do not even know that this application is being considered and will have ramifications far beyond its 5 year life.

The original Nebo application was produced in 2010 and since that time numerous things have happened that require the DoPE to relook at the project in regard to suitability of proponent, particulate matter, noise, financial justification, staffing numbers and socio-economic factors.

When i first head that the NSW government allows coal mining in catchment areas I was shocked and appalled Australia is the only country in the world that permits this !!!
Yet now we have a Wollongong Coal proposing to extend its coal mining rights at Wongawilli. Its got to be a now brainer not to allow this atrocity. If the government does allow this extension then it is not acting in the public interest by ignoring what economists call the social costs of coal mining, pollution, degradation of the land and serious health effects. Harvard law professor calls this corruption.

I strongly oppose the above application to extend the mining under our delicate water catchment. Please remember we are the most arid continent in the world not coal is your most important resource. Coal is adding plus to climate change issues. This must not go ahead.

Longwall mining is unkind to the environment. I pay this with family history of over 100 years in the mining industry. so i do not oppose the mining industry . As i do opppose long wall techniques specifically. Our drinking water and catchment areas are too valuable to allow mining companies with dubios engineering attitudes to let loose in our catchment areas. How long do we need to put up with sub standard engineering in our delicate water catchments. I also oppose csg in our catchment areas.

For the department to be considering the proposed extension of MP09_0161, By Wollongong coal in the proposed nebo longwall mining project which will undermine creeks feeding the cordeaux reservoir and come within 500 metres of it is reckless. To give approval to Wollongong coal would be foolish partly as Wollongong coal has a poor safety record and partley as they appear to be in financial difficulties, making them highly unlikely to be able to rectify major damage to our water catchments and storage. That this risk would be taken. putting at risk the drinking water of greater sydney (4.6 million people)would be great irresponsibility, especially at the future profitability indeed current visibility of coal in sharp decline, hopefully terminal decline.

As a new retired Industrial offficer of the Australian services union with members in the sydney catchment authority. I object strongly to mining in the sensitive areas adjacent to the Sydney and Illawarra communities. I was proud during my many years in the industry both as a plumber and as a official in the above union. to oppose damaged to the environment. My union took seriously all issues concerning actions which potentially could damage public safety and a relaxing of regulation which could be injurious to our members and public safety . It seems obvious to me that the quest fot profits could endanger public safety if mining is allowed to take place in these fabulous areas which were established by governments previously in more enlightened times.

Australia is a very dry place. Our clean drinkable water resources are scarce and previous. There is a real identifiable risk to the water catchment from longwall mining. The potential benefits more income for the coal company does not outweigh the potential costs. (Irreversible damage in the water catchment) it is just not worth it.

Sydney is a rapidly growing city. The nebo longwalls are close to cordeaux reservoirs 1&2 the sydney catchment authority is concerned drivages will cause water leakage from Avon dam. Sydney needs a good water supply- not contaminated not dwindling in capacity. Wollongong coal are not a competent company it would seems, because of its previous record. If it sells to another company bthere is no guarantee that another company company will be any better. Coal is a past technology and source of fossil fuels. stop the world heating and stop this application for coal mining.

This proposal is absolutely crazy. We cannot risk with our water supply. This must ne stopped now and forever. reject the application and legislate to eliminate all mining in our catchment areas.