Mod 4 - Further Longwall Panel Changes

Dear Sir/Madam
I wish to strongly object to any further extension of the Ulan
underground coal mine, which already extracts up to 23,000 tonnes of
water DAILY from under the Goulburn River, and which now stops flowing
at times even after heavy rain. There has been no independent regional
water study despite the Goulburn being a major feeder to the Hunter
River and surrounding farmland.
The Drip Gorge, and iconic natural feature, is also affected.
In addition, coal being used mainly to fuel power stations,
contributes to the emission of CO2, NOx compounds, SO2, and mercury,
into the air we all breathe.

Submission Ulan Coal MOD 4
This submission DOES NOT SUPPORT the expansion of the Ulan Coal Mine
MOD 4.

My name is Melissa Gray from Dubbo NSW, I am a Healthy Rivers
Ambassador for the Macquarie and Castlereagh Rivers and their
tributaries. Fresh water and rivers are vital to existence, and it is
essential that as a society we accept our role as custodians of this
landscape for future generations.
Since the 1980's Ulan Coal mine has been extracting up to 23 million
litres of ground water a day across the headwaters of the Goulburn
River. If approved, the proposal by Ulan Coal Mine to expand
underground mining either side of the Great Dividing Range would not
only continue to cause damage to the Goulburn River and threaten The
Drip Gorge, but will also drain base flows to the Talbragar River and
intercept a large volume of water from the NSW Murray-Darling Porous
Rock Groundwater Source.
The proposed expansion of Ulan coal mine would further threaten
regional groundwater sources to the north of the iconic natural
landscape feature known as The Drip. The Drip must be protected,
therefore further depletion to groundwater sources in this area is not
acceptable.
The cumulative damage to the Goulburn River is now very evident with
two additional neighbouring mines, Moolarben and Wilpinjong adding to
the impact of the Ulan coal mine. The river stopped flowing over the
summer period despite large storm events and smaller nearby creeks
continuing to flow. The cumulative regional impact of mining on the
health and integrity of the Goulburn River has not been assessed.
Under this proposed expansion, even more base flows to the Goulburn
River will be intercepted. The continued expansion of the three mines
mentioned above cannot be permitted before the establishment of a
rigorous and independent Regional Water Study.
Expanding underground mining to the western side of the Great Dividing
Range will impact on surface and groundwater in the Murray-Darling
Basin. There are already massive issues with water management,
compliance and alleged water theft in the Northern Murray-Darling
Basin. Vast quantities of surface water in the Northern Murray Darling
Basin that are withheld on farm through floodplain harvesting have
been unmeasured to this point, with effort to account for these
volumes only just being started by NSW DPI. A full audit of water
sources in the Northern Murray-Darling Basin is required, further
extractions must be restricted under these conditions.
Base flows to the Talbragar River will be intercepted by the expansion
of the Ulan coal mine. Such reductions in base flows will have
concerning impacts on downstream Aboriginal cultures and economies,
communities, floodplain graziers and recreational fishers - in other
words, the community at large. All of nature with its wildlife and
fauna, and all communities with their economies, cultures, social and
recreational activities in the Murray-Darling Basin need healthy
resilient rivers to survive. Our rivers are our Lifeblood.
As a tributary of the Macquarie River, the Talbragar River is an
important contributor of supplementary water to the Macquarie system
and therefore the Macquarie Marshes. The Macquarie Marshes are listed
as a key biodiversity area IN DANGER in BirdLife Australia's "KBAS IN
DANGER The State Of Australia's Key Biodiversity Areas in 2017"
report. The Macquarie Marshes are subject to international agreements,
including the Ramsar Convention, which compel Australia to protect the
Marshes as an important migratory bird habitat under the Water Act
2007. A notification of change to ecological character of the
Macquarie Marshes was submitted to the Ramsar secretariat under
Article 3.2 of the Ramsar Convention in 2009. Recovery of water for
the Marshes is one of the key requirements for restoring ecological
character.
The Macquarie Marshes Ramsar listing includes Criterion 8: Food
source, nursery or migration path for fish. The Macquarie River
catchment supports a number of threatened fish species including
Silver perch Bidyanus bidyanus (vulnerable on IUCN Red List), Murray
Cod Maccullochella peelii (vulnerable under Federal Environment Law
(EPBC Act), freshwater catfish Tandanus tandanus (endangered
population in Murray-Darling Basin NSW Fisheries Act).
The lower Macquarie catchment, including the Marshes, is located in
the area covered by the endangered ecological community listed under
the NSW Fisheries Management Act 1994 as the `aquatic ecological
community in the natural drainage system of the lowland catchment of
the Darling River'. This community covers all native fish and aquatic
invertebrates and the natural rivers, creeks, lagoons, billabongs,
wetlands, lakes, tributaries, anabranches and effluents in which they
live.
Any further diversion to base flows into the Macquarie Valley system
would contribute to the risk of a failure to meet the objectives of
the Basin Plan Environmental Watering Strategy.
The communities of the Macquarie Valley have shown strong concern for
river health. There are strong Landcare, Field Naturalists, Bushcare
and recreational fishing groups on the Macquarie River who work
selflessly and tirelessly to improve the condition of the Macquarie
River, with impressive results. It has been shown at local events in
Dubbo, including a Healthy Rivers Roadshow public meeting in September
2017 that community concern for river health is strong.
Extracting and burning coal for power increases the very dangerous
impacts of climate change. These impacts are well documented, and
public attitude has strongly shifted to supporting a future powered by
renewable energy.

Melissa Gray
Healthy Rivers Ambassador
Dubbo NSW 2830

24th April 2018.

Ulan Coal Mine Mod 4
08_0184 Mod 4

25th April 2018
To Whom it may concern;
I am writing to express my opposition to the current modification 4 of
the Ulan Coal Mine.
As a frequent visitor since 1994 to the "Drip gorge" and Goulburn
River National Park I have been astonished to discover that the
Goulburn River has not been running in that area on my two previous
visits 1st January 2018 and Easter 2018. I do not recall this type of
event occurring on any previous visits. My understanding from local
knowledge is the Ulan Mine operation controls the release of water up
stream of the "drip gorge". The dewatering of the mine site, the
storage and or usage of this water must not be allowed to
substantially alter the natural flows of the Goulburn River system.
This river system is already under a great deal of sustained pressure
from the three mine sites (Ulan, Moolarben and Wilpinjong mines) in
this region.
Independent studies need to be carried out to determine the impact on
base flows to the river system due to ground or surface water
interception by mining operations. Further to this, a study of
cumulative regional impact of mining on the health and integrity of
the Goulburn River need to be carried out before making any
determination on modification 4.
The water quality and environmental flows from the mine site need to
be mandated to mimic natural flows and monitored by the regulatory
authority.
Coal mining in the last decade has increased significantly in the
Goulburn River system region. No further mining expansion should be
allowed in this area in particular Durridgere State Conservation Area.
Regards
David Anderson
0418210721

Please find our submission attached. RHHFFPS

Submission
Ulan Coal MOD 4
expansion proposal.

27 April 2018

by George Tlaskal
313 Inlet Road, BULGA, NSW, 2330

I am a resident of Bulga in the Hunter Valley and I OPPOSE the
proposed expansion of the Ulan Coal MOD 4 expansion proposal on the
following grounds.

Further expansions of the coal mining in the headwaters of the
Goulburn River will surely endanger of the Hunter River. Cumulative
effects of such expansions have not been properly analysed and they
are, therefore, unknown in the long term. As a participant in a Hunter
irrigation scheme I do not want the availability and quality of the
Hunter River water further endangered.

Extending of the underground mining of coal under the Durridgere State
Conservation Area will further endanger the existence of The Drip
gorge which is a wonderful natural beauty spot. I want to preserve The
Drip for future generations.

The latest climate science reports [see e.g. IPCC (2015)] tell us that
the carbon budget to keep the Earth temperature below the 2oC increase
is 2900 GtCO2-e (gigatons of CO2 equivalent). It has been calculated
that at the current rate of burning all fossil fuels this budget will
be exhausted in about 19 years [see Evershed (2017), Muttitt at
al.(2016) ]. If we exceed the carbon budget we will be committed to
the average temperature increase of more than 20C. This means a more
dangerous Earth climate with an increasing frequency of the extreme
weather events such as heatwaves, bushfires, megastorms, droughts,
floods, spread of the tropical diseases as well as rising seas. This
must result in a reduced food production and many leading thinkers
[see e.g. Hamilton (2014) ] now worry that living on such an "angry
Earth" will also lead to more famines, civil disruptions and wars.
Extreme heatwaves we have experienced in the Hunter during the last
summer and autumn show that the problem of the accelerating climate
change is real. Only people paid well to not see the coming
environmental catastrophe still try to ignore it.

There is only one safe way towards the solution to the climate change
problem - EXPANSION OF THE COAL MINING INDUSTRY MUST STOP NOW and
starting with the Ulan Coal MOD 4!

REFERENCES
Evershed (2017) Carbon countdown clock: how much of the world's carbon
budget have we spent?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/datablog/2017/jan/19/carbon-countdown-clock-how-much-of-the-worlds-carbon-budget-have-we-spent

Muttitt at al.(2016) The Sky's Limit. Why the Paris climate goals
require a managed decline of fossil fuel production.
http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2016/09/OCI_the_skys_limit_2016_FINAL_2.pdf

Hamilton (2014) Forget `saving the Earth' - it's an angry beast that
we've awoken
https://theconversation.com/forget-saving-the-earth-its-an-angry-beast-that-weve-awoken-27156

IPCC (2015) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014, Synthesis
Report
https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full_wcover.pdf

Please see attached Submission

I have submitted a file

01.05.2018

Anthony Ko
Planner
NSW DP&E

SUBJECT: MOD 4 UCML

Dear Anthony,

attached my comments regarding the above,

kind regards

Geoff Mitchell for Mary and Geoff Mitchell

01.05.2018

Anthony Ko
Planner
NSW DP&E

SUBJECT: MOD 4 UCML

Dear Anthony,

attached my comments regarding the above,

kind regards

Geoff Mitchell for Mary and Geoff Mitchell

Uploaded

Please acknowledge receipt of our submission thank you.

Orange Field naturalist and Conservation Society objects to the Ulan Coal
Mod 4 as outlined in the attached letter.

Attached

Uploaded as attachment

As uploaded

As attached

See attached.

My submission on UCML Mod 4 development attached

See uploaded submission

Re Submission of Objection Ulan Coal Mind Mod 4 attached Thanks