MOD 2 - Workers Accommodation Facility

I object to the Wilpinjong Coal Mine proposal to construct a temporary Workers Camp on the mine side while houses in the Wollar village are empty and neglected. Those properties within the village and around the district are owned by Peabody Energy and should therefore be looked after and maintained by that company. New homes could be built and old ones renovated for workers to live there and it also would create permanent accommodation for future residents in the village and around. Something positive for once the Peabody Coal mining company could leave behind.

The current application by Peabody (Wilpinjong Coal PL) should be rejected and the NSW Government require Peabody restore and upgrade existing houses as well as build permanent dwellings for accommodation in Wollar village and surrounds. This would be but a small gesture to return some of the wealth Peabody’s have extracted from this district and support the future development of this area as an emerging renewable energy hub and positive way forward.
This would also demonstrate the NSW Government’s commitment to urgently address the current housing crisis.
Peabody is the largest landowner and housing property manager in Wollar area. Peabody’s reasons for wanting to provide new but temporary miner accommodation for mine workers on the mined site and not utilise the existing facilities in the Wollar village are unclear and inadequately described. The most obvious reason for workers accommodation is to facilitate the further expansion of open cut coal mining beyond existing mining approvals. This company should not be planning the expansion of open cut coal mining in this area. Climate science and evidence-based planning clearly shows the urgent need for no new fossil fuel development and the phase out of coal mining.

Please see attached my submission for Mod 2 - Workers Accommodation Facility - (SUB-65780707)

Julie Favell

See attached full Submission.
I request that the current application by Peabody (Wilpinjong Coal PL) be rejected and the NSW Government require Peabody restore and upgrade existing houses as well as build permanent dwellings for accommodation in Wollar village and surrounds. This would be a small gesture to return just some of the wealth Peabody’s have extracted from this district and support the development of this area as an emerging renewable energy hub.
I support the NSW Government undertaking to do something about the chronic housing shortage throughout our State. This requirement on Peabody Energy would exemplify and support the NSW Government’s commitment to urgently address the housing crisis.

I strongly object to the building of a temporary workers camp at Wilpinjong Mine.

As someone currently planning to move back to the Wollar region it is very important to me to believe that Wollar Village has a future and will one day become a thriving community again.

Rather than building temporary accommodation at Wilpinjong Mine for its workers, Peabody could help rebuild a future for Wollar by constructing new, permanent housing in the village that would house its current workers and really importantly, would provide accommodation into the future.

The position of Wollar in this region, with the Goulburn River National Park nearby, a large renewable energy project being developed on Barigan Road and its proximity to Mudgee, give the village significant potential into the future and make it a desirable location for people to one day live again.

We are experiencing a housing crisis in NSW and the Mudgee region is not immune to this. Building new, permanent houses in Wollar would be an important contribution and a gesture of goodwill to this regional community and would help to alleviate some of this pressure.

Peabody energy has taken so much from this region and community, please do the right thing and invest in the future and rebuilding of Wollar Village and do NOT build a temporary workers camp at Wilpinjong Mine.

In June and November, 2023, your Government made important promises to address the chronic housing shortage across NSW.

Peabody Energy has made an application to build temporary worker accommodation at Wollar (SSD-6764-Mod 2) which is now open for public comment. We want to draw your attention to the fact that this application will undermine your valuable promises to address the housing shortage.

Peabody Energy is a US-owned company which has been mining coal in a large open cut mine near Wollar Village, which is around 50 km north-east of Mudgee and very close to the Goulburn River National Park. Peabody’s mine has already caused severe problems of noise, dust, odour and water table lowering, all made worse as the mine has expanded. These problems have been so serious that they have forced out many local residents and led to the closure of the local school, the general store and other services. There has been no choice for local residents but to sell their properties to Peabody, making this mining company the largest landowner and housing property manager in the district.

Like many parts of the State, the Mudgee region is facing a major housing crisis with accommodation demand outstripping housing stock. This is a crucial time: the town is actively rebuilding itself. The large new Wollar Solar Farm is already under construction and the area is the centre of the proposed Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone. Yet there is little housing for the many workers already coming to fill the jobs being created.
As the largest owner/manager of housing in the district, Peabody is in a position to provide the existing housing for workers, and invest in new housing for permanent residents. Instead of taking this responsible act of corporate citizenship, the corporation has actually bulldozed many of the existing homes it now owns.
Now Peabody is applying for permission to build temporary worker accommodation near its mining site. This will do nothing to alleviate the region’s housing crisis. Even worse, we fear it will be used to house temporary workers for an attempted new expansion of Peabody’s mines, for which the EIS has not yet even been completed. Peabody has failed the test as a responsible corporate citizen!

We call on the NSW Government to reject Peabody’s application to build temporary worker accommodation. Instead, we ask your Government to require Peabody to build permanent accommodation as well as to maintain existing housing stock instead of tearing it down. This would contribute to your Government’s commitment to address the urgent housing crisis in the region as well as building the workforce for renewable energy production.

Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group Inc members have seen the destruction of communities and housing stock first hand. The depopulation and destruction of the satellite communities in the Upper Hunter leave us all poorer.
Construction of a temporary workers camp in place of the opportunity of maintaining a town, which could be ready to be reclaimed, as coal mining gives way to the renewable hub, is short sited and uncaring for those who come after us.
We also support the Aboriginal land claim for the Crown Land, with cultural heritage and biodiversity values, currently with in the mine boundary.

Wollar is just one of the small rural communities in the Hunter that have been virtually wiped out by the coal industry. I live at Kayuga, near the Mt Pleasant and Dartbrook mines. There were 13 houses on our road before these mines. There is now us and 3 renters. The other houses have been demolished, most of them outside the footprint of the mine. Mining companies have a responsibility to these rural communities they disrupt. These companies are responsible for restoring the land. They should also restore the communities, or at least give them a restart. These mines will close at some point and a lasting legacy would be free standing houses in the village of Wollar which could be sold cheaply post mining. A temporary drive in drive out complex, to be demolished when no longer of use is a cynical, cheap solution to their problem of attracting a workforce. Peabody has made huge profits from this mine, and need to leave the area at least as well as they found it.

Central West Environment Council objects to the temporary workers camp and supports the removal of Crown Land from the approved mine boundary.

The workers camp proposal makes no sense: it aims to keep 100 mine workers in a waterless and miserable mid-mine location, unable to leave the work site. Meanwhile the same MIne is, shockingly, demolishing good homes in the Wollar Village adjacent. This must not be allowed. Instead, existing and new homes there could house the same 100 workers, and add ongoing future investment value for the Mine, the Owner. Jobs in maintenance and building provide healthy and productive work, and cater for the Mine's transition to renewable energy efforts from now on. That's the kind of initiative Mines will have to show as their coal extraction gives way to sustainable industry. There will be a growing market for good housing, which is already in critically short supply. By contrast, this work camp proposal is a costly waste, built on a waste heap and only partly removable. Yes, certainly remove culturally sensitive land from the mining intentions, which is part of this proposal.. but DPIE should not allow more demolitions, and should approve permanent worker housing where it belongs.. the existing village.

I live in the Mid Western Area and witnessed the demise of Wollar and surrounds due to mining
Many years ago Peabody Energy stated that due to mining Wollar and surrounds would experience growth and prosperity but the opposite has occurred. Wollar was once a vibrant and supportive community.
Now is the opportunity for peabody to repair
some of the damage caused by mining by providing permanent accommodation instead of temporary .
Peabody has supplied very little maintenance to existing buildings Housing in the area should not be demolished and new housing built on vacant blocks.
The housing shortage will only increase with REZ developments in the area There already is a housing shortage in the area.
Current mine approvals state that mine production will be ramping down in2025, so Peabody needs to invest in a permanent legacy for Wollar, as in housing and renovation instead of a temporary workers camp at the mine.
There is a aboriginal land claim with cultural heritage and biodiversity values, so this crown land needs to be removed from current mine boundary.

Objection to Wilpinjong Coal Mine Extension Mod 2 – Workers Camp.

There is no justification to build a temporary workers camp at Wilpinjong Mine. Peabody’s request is ludicrous: during the worst housing crisis in Australia, Peabody is currently demolishing houses in Wollar Village and district which, due to the extreme health impacts from the mine, most of the local community has been forced out of. Peabody is now the largest land and property owner in the Wollar district, and yet is now applying to construct a temporary workers camp on the mine site. This makes no sense at all from an environmental sustainability perspective.
Bulldozing permanent housing in favour of temporary workers camps fractures and destroys rural communities. This is an unacceptable contribution to the housing crisis.
Under the current approval, the mine will be scaling down production and activity from 2025. Why then does the company need to build a temporary workers camp?
Peabody Energy has made enormous profits from Wilpinjong Mine and should give back to the community it has almost destroyed. One way it could do this is by renovating the properties it owns and renting homes out to local families for a fair rental price or building new permanent housing in Wollar village. Doing these things would be one way that the company could begin behaving like a responsible corporate citizen instead of an environmental vandal.
Twenty new three-bedroom houses on Peabody-owned blocks in Wollar village plus the renovation of existing housing stock would provide permanent accommodation into the future and help the Wollar community rebuild its social fabric.
The transition to renewable energy is happening in the region. Large new renewable energy projects and transmission lines are proposed for the Central West Renewable Energy Zone, including at Wollar (Wollar Solar Farm). The Mudgee region is currently in the grip of a severe housing shortage, which means it is very difficult for renewable energy construction workers to find accommodation. And yet, Peabody Energy has been demolishing liveable houses in Wollar.
Peabody's modification request must be refused.

I object to the construction of the on-site workers accommodation. Perfectly serviceable family homes are being demolished by Peabody Coal. Worker's accommodation on-site encourages FIFO rather than permanent local jobs. If the area has a future, then the company should build permanent homes that allow workers to relocate with their families. Having a captive workforce on site is bad for worker's mental health and further an unhealthy dynamic between workers and employer that makes them vulnerable to objecting to any employer actions.

The possible need to build the temporary workers camp, while allowing existing dwellings within Wollar to deteriorate & be demolished indicatesthat Peabody has failed in its responsibility to township of Wollar. If the NSW /Australian governments is going to add weight behind its climate change policies, than the phasing out of coal starts now. The mining application that Peabody is operating under, clearly says it will reduce its work force to 360 in 2025 & close by 2033. If this is going to be adhered to, than rebuilding the community & primarily the houses within the township of Wollar would be a priority for Peabody.

The building of permanent housing in Wollar, would allow local workers ( and community) to be involved in the transition away from coal. The Wollar Solar Farm under construction and new substation and transmission lines for the Central West
Orana Renewable Energy Zone based in the district.

I am objecting to this Mod as I see no justification for accomodation at Wilpingjong Coal Mine.Their current approval will end in 2033 and they state themselves in their Social Impact Management Plan(SSD -6764) “Loss of employment and supply arrangements are expected to decline from 2025 from approximately 564 to 360 workers in 2032 and then to 149 for the 12 months prior to closure”
An accomodation facility will in no way relieve pressure on our housing shortage as their staff are already housed in stable accomodation.
There are no future expansion plans approved and given Australia and NSW commitment to meet its carbon and climate obligations reason would dictate that there shouldn’t be.
WCM on the other hand could build new housing where they are demolishing old in the village of Wollar and renovate what currently stands to leave a lasting legacy when they close and leave.
I hope the DPE can see as many in the area do that there is no justification for this Modification.

Wellington Valley Wiradjuri Aboriginal Corporation has been briefed and consulted with by the Proponent in relation to the application to construct worker accommodation within their existing mining lease on ground that has had previous disturbance. Due to the area being culturally clear and that there are no impacts on any creeks and it would be beneficial to the overall workforce Wellington Valley Wiradjuri Aboriginal Corporation members unanimously agreed to support this project modification.

Please respond when you receive this submission

Under the current approval there is no justification to build a temporary workers camp at Wilpinjong Mine. From 2025 the mine will be ramping down production and activity from 2025. The severe housing crisis in the Mudgee Region has made it very difficult for renewable energy construction workers to find accommodation while at the same time Peabody Energy is demolishing houses in Wollar. Wollar is the centre of the renewable energy boom in the Central West; with Wollar Solar Farm under construction and new substation and transmission lines for the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone based in the district. It is plain that coal must make way for renewable energy since the transition to renewable energy is happening in the region. It is time for the coal industry to wind down under the current approval timeframes and workers in renewables need accomodation which is scarce to non-existent in the area.It is beyond time to look at expansion of coal-mining and the Scope e emissions that follow from exports. The World is seeing Global warming on a grand scale and only winding back coal whilst increasing renewable projects makes sense.
Australia is seeing a decline in species and Aboriginal Heritage.
Thus, I support a proposal to reduce the area of the current mine boundary by removing Crown Land with cultural heritage and biodiversity values under an Aboriginal land claim

I live in the Wollar area and have watched the destruction of the community, the village infrastructure and the environment since the US owned coal company Peabody has been operating from 2005.
Peabody has bought up nearly every property in the village of Wollar and large tracts of prime agricultural land surrounding the village. All these properties had habitable dwellings on them and housed hundreds of locals and farm employees. Since taking ownership Peabody has demolished many houses and left others unmaintained and now inhabitable.
Given that there is a severe housing crisis locally and nationally, I find this wanton destruction of habitable houses incomprehensible. As well they have been supported by the Mid Western Regional Council, who now are in dire straits regarding housing , rentals and rising homelessness.
I see no justification in this project, this accommodation will be temporary and given the mine will be winding down under current approval , the need for that type of accommodation would be useless by 2025.
A much better use of resources for the future of the area, would be for Peabody to maintain the existing houses, as well as build new ones to house their workers and at the end of their tenure have a stock of habitable housing to be offered to the public, allowing the possibility of renewed community engagement in the Wollar area.
The enormous profits made by Peabody from Wilpinjong mine could be used to ameliorate the housing crisis now and in the future. They owe that to the community of our nation.
I also do not support the proposed extension of the Wilpinjong mine as a modification, there needs to be a whole new Social Impact Study. There has been enough environmental & social destruction in this area, ironically flanked by NPWS.