Wilpinjong Coal Mine Extension

It is now understood that it is vital to move to renewable energy. The only reason for disregarding this is personal profit, versus public good.
The world does NOT NEED more coal and more pollution. Surely the Paris talks made this clear. Let us be leaders for a sustainable future.

The proposal to continue extracting low quality coal while causing irreversible environmental and social damage cannot be justified.

Future generations are entitled to an undamaged environment.
Global warming, climate change and loss of biodiversity are the critical environmental factors that the NSW Government must act to avoid, not just minimise.
Economic growth will not continue, so plan for a sustainable human population now. This means NO NEW OR EXTENDED COAL MINES.
The mine owners, Peabody, do not have the resources to restore the damage to our environment already done. Peabody has not restored their mine workings already completed.
The NSW Government has not asked for a financial guarantee sufficient to restore the original mine site. There is no offer included in the current mine extension plan to adequately restore the extended mine area.
The NSW Government has not asked for an adequate restoration amount to be guaranteed and irrevocable.
Peabody has not proposed to capture the carbon its mine extension will release when its coal is burnt. Nor has either Peabody or the NSW Government considered how to sequester the captured carbon. These sensible environmental options must be considered and set in place before any further environmental damage is approved.

Air pollution will allow some damage to human health. What do the humans get instead? We are more likely to be badly treated, ignored or pushed around and told to shut up than have money put aside now for:
1. Epidemiological studies of the effects of coal mine and transport air pollution on human health.
2. Future care of the probable number of people suffering ill health from air pollution.
3. Financial compensation for the people around the world directly affected by climate change, ill health, the need for air conditioning, a degraded environment and the need for more intensive energy consumption to cope in a world damaged by this coal mine extension.

Without planning now for a sustainable future, continuing along the same path will lead to more difficult and costlier corrective action. The longer you delay introducing a sustainable world model, the greater the chaos will be when we realise we should have acted long ago to be sustainable.

One other thing wrong with Peabody's economic model (and the model of the NSW Government) is that the mine extension proposal is to sell the coal to be burnt for thermal energy and steel making. Coal is a very concentrated chemical resource that could be use for pharmaceuticals and to benefit humans in a world of scarce and limited resources. We should not be wasting coal by burning it.

How much tax has Peabody paid to Australia?
What do Australians get in exchange for our gift of this resource to an overseas miner?
Have Australian miners working for Peabody and their contractors already paid more income tax that Peabody has paid in Australia?

I object to this mine extension for the following reasons:
* The extension of Wilpinjong Mine will make the village of Wollar unlivable.
* The cumulative social impact of loss of population through mining projects from Ulan to Bylong has not been considered.
* The noise assessment, monitoring and mitigation measures are totally inadequate.
* Air quality has not been assessed against the new standards adopted in December 2015.
* The extension will remove 354 hectares of remnant native vegetation and have an impact on 24 threatened species and ecological communities - more than the current approval. The biodiversity offsets will not provide sufficient habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater.
* The cumulative impacts on biodiversity, Aboriginal cultural heritage, water sources, greenhouse gas emissions, community and rural industry have not been rigorously assessed.
* The mine will produce an additional 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year, exacerbating the impacts of climate change. This is at odds with Australia's commitments under the Paris Accord.
* The area has significant Aboriginal cultural heritage values that have not been assessed in a regional context.
* The extension removes existing buffer zones for the Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve.
* The extension will leave three final voids that will permanently scar the landscape and harm waterways for hundreds of years.
* The ongoing impacts on groundwater and surface water systems will be greater than predicted.
* The predicted job numbers are overstated compared, with the current workforce extracting the same volume of coal.
* Peabody Energy is in deep financial distress and may not be fit to meet all its obligations.
* The contract to supply AGL's Bayswater Power Station can be met by the current approval.
* The proposal to continue extracting low quality coal while causing irreversible environmental and social damage cannot be justified.

I wish to add my voice to those who oppose the extension of the Wilpinjong Mine. At the global level there is already too much use of coal for energy. It all adds to pollution and global warming. We should not permit the expansion of the coal industry. At the local level this will be a disaster for the residents of Wollar. There have not been sufficient studies made of the impacts of increased noise and decreased air quality on affected populations. And the affect on groundwater and surface water needs more investigation. Moreover, a significant amount of native vegetation will be removed, which will negatively impact wild animal species.
This whole project is just another example of putting profits before people and conservation of nature.

I strongly object to the expansion of Wilpinjong coal mine. I feel that it(the mine) has already mostly destroyed what was a thriving village with a great community and now they want the village gone. If the mine expansion goes ahead they will be 1.5kms from the village of Wollar, the residents, who still own their homes are already having to live with noise and the mine says that the noise levels will rise. The residents also have coal dust inside their homes and in the water tanks they use for drinking and cooking with and therefore it must be in the air they are breathing. Then if this isn't bad enough they also have to live with sulphur fumes from spontaneous combustion. The people who rent from the coal mine are not allowed to make complaints. Our governments and coal companies(Peabody Energy being one of these) should not be allowed to push people into situations where they have to make decisions on whether to sell their home they bought with their spouse and raised their children in, for less then market value or, see if they can stick around and ride out the storm that is a coal mine, which will eventually stop mining here and move on to another village or town to destroy its community and life style. I say enough is enough. We should be looking to alternative energies. There is no such thing as clean coal and we burn dirty brown coal in our power stations so therefore we are making a big contribution to global warming and therefore climate change.

For many years as I traveled along the New England Highway whilst working at Liddell and Bayswater Power Stations I was horrified at the scars on the landscape caused by coal mining.
I made the comment many times to friends that it was like a giant festering sore on the surface of the land.
To hear of this sort of destruction in yet another quiet country location disgusts me.
The unexplained illnesses suffered by people living near this type of destruction must be taken into consideration. The reduced quality of life can never be compensated for.
Please give something other than the "almighty" dollar some consideration.

Having lived on our property since 1989, 30 km north east of what is now the Wilpinjong Mine, I have become increasingly aware of the atmospheric dust over our area, the noise from mine blasts and accompanying dust plumes on the horizon.
We also have small landslides along the escarpment of the Krui River which runs through our property.

The night sky, before the establishment of the mine was a sight to behold with the brilliance of stars. It is now hazy and dull. Depressing!
Habitat loss is of great concern to me. The clearing of native bush which provides biodiversity, essential to the wellbeing of wildlife and humans alike, will be ongoing as a result of mine expansion. Long term devastation for short term profit.
Please consider my very deep concerns and halt further expansion of coal mining.
If not for my benefit, but certainly that of my grandchildren.
Thank you
Jenny Finnie

Please refrain from granting any extension to the Wilpinjong Project. Already coal mining is becoming a non viable industry, and any further endangerment of our valuable water table is just vandalism. It is impossible to guarantee the safely of our ground water, and it is impossible to repair.
Thanking you for your attention.
Vicki Barry

OUR BRANCH IS VERY AWARE OF THE VARIETY OF WAYS IN WHICH COAL MINES ARE DESTRUCTIVE. ALSO, DUE TO THE SUCCESS OF RENEWABLES IN RECENT YEARS, COAL MINES ARE ON THEIR WAY OUT. We support any other group that is facing threats to their environment. In this case, it seems that dust and visual pollution are major threats. In our area, we are in close contact with a civil engineer who knows about damage to houses. The houses sometimes have to be replaced. Even if the damage is fully repaired, the residents have to endure stress till their case is resolved. Another form of damage is the drainage of upland swamps and one of the most extreme cases is the draining of Thirlmere Lakes. They are still not anywhere near full despite years of good rain and despite the fact that dams on the surrounding farms are full. Of course, coal is contributing to global warming which, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, is very real. Everything humans value will be under threat in coming decades. Note that the cyclone that wiped out villages in Fiji, recently, was the strongest to ever reach land in the Pacific. It seems likely that there will be many more category 5 storms and we may have to talk about category 6 storms. Another problem is the slow death of the Great Barrier Reef due to increasing acidity in the oceans, among other reasons. WE URGE YOU TO THINK OF THE LONG-TERM AND THE WORLD YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL INHERIT.

I am concerned any mine in Australia be extended when we should slowly be shutting them down as we migrate to Green energy.

The impact on the environment is irreversible; it creates soil contamination with chemicals, pollutes surface and ground water, loss of biodiversity due to destruction of surrounding dependant species, sinkholes form and erosion is high.

Environmental rehabilitation is a joke after a mine has closed, the area that contained the mine, the surrounds, never fully recover no matter how much remediation is available with $$ and man hours, man's effort to restore what nature created is always second rate.

Its time to say to the people of the small towns and villages that the government will protect them.
Its time to say NO to the big international corporations that have no interest in this country besides gouging up the landscape for profit.
Its time to put people and communities at the forefront of any considerations made.
SAY NO to unviable and polluting coalmine expansions before its to late to turn back from the precipice of environmental tipping points.

Having long been concerned by the impacts of coal mining in many parts of NSW, but especially, those in the Upper Hunter Valley and their undeniable impacts upon both the environment and many local residents, I strenuously object to this proposed expansion to Wilpinjong Mine

The views of many local residents, environmentalists and economists appear to be secondary to the perceived benefits to, in particular the proponents who, as the evidence clearly indicates, are in serious financial difficulty at the present time.

However, the most appalling point is that the proponents have indicated the mine will have an even more serious impact than already, both socially and, environmentally, upon the nearby village of Wollar. The irrefutable evidence is that, already, many who have long resided in the village, have been forced to leave the place they called home and, obviously, dearly loved, in face of the very real health issues associated with the extension to the mine. despite the hyperbole and fatuous assurances of the proponents, as to the risks associated to the extension/expansion of the mine.

Surely, in light of the very recently published research into Black Lung Disease in Queensland, this prpoosal, so close to Wollar, can't be approved.

Do you, the persons charged with the onerous task of determining the proposal, want to have on your hands and on your minds, for the rest of your days, the probability that many, perhaps unable to abandon their homes and lifestyles, will become, through no fault of their own, victims of this insidious affliction, which, supposedly, has long been diminished but which, obviously, despite assurances from the mining conglomerates and acquiescent government agencies, has been allowed to re-appear in the medical lexicon of the early 21st Century?

In addition to the obvious risks to the health of the public and the residents of Wollar, in particular, there are growing concerns about the viability of coal as a fuel source into the future (what future, indeed, with it still being burnt, as we currently do?), there are the very obvious impacts upon the environment and what remains of local plant and animal species within and adjacent to the proposed extension to the mine .

Surely, you who are charged with the review of the proposal, have seen and experienced the almost mind boggling extent of coal mining in the Upper Hunter Valley over many decades of similar activities as are proposed in this latest application? Surely, you, despite the "requirements" of many Acts, can see this insanity must stop and that the viability of this proposal makes it questionable, from the outset and that, should it, as it likely must, fail, within the time span claimed for the extension, then the State of NSW and future taxpayers will, inevitably, be burdened with the consequently, inevitable, horrendous clean-up, restoration and compensation of future, perhaps, NSW residents?

But, above all else, what of the displacement of those who have long called Wollar home, the never ending cycle of environmental degradation and extirpation of plant and animal communities and the loss of increasingly, as the nightmare of human population growth continues, unabated,
valuable farmland to feed that unchecked growth of human population? How much more viable farmland, in this country of, in the main, extremely poor/infertile soils, can we afford to allow to be sterilised to satisfy the seemingly, insatiable, rapacious appetites of the mining giants and in this case, yet another overseas owned conglomerate?

As a layman, a simple, high school educated, fifth generation Australian of convict ancestry on my maternal family's side, I say enough is enough and proudly, defiantly, add my voice to those whose lives are likely to be destroyed for, ultimately, nothing as the aeolian winds blow across the desolate landscape we are creating in our lemming like rush, towards that inevitable abyss - extinction of not just the plants and animals we share the Earth with, but our own race..

Do not, regardless of "law", for the sake of current and future Australians, approve this mine's expansion.

Wilpinjong is a large employer in the area and generously donates to the local community.

Dear Sir/Madam
I would like to add my voice to objections to the expansion of this coal mine.

Very briefly, coal is a dying industry. Even the company applying for this expansion is in financial trouble. Not to mention the negative impacte on the environment and the local community.

Common sense dictates that this proposal is NOT in the public interest. I urge you to reject it.

Yours sincerely
Pieter, Newtown

The extension of Wilpinjong Mine will make the village of Wollar unlivable.
The cumulative social impact of loss of population through mining projects from Ulan to Bylong has not been considered.
The noise assessment, monitoring and mitigation measures are totally inadequate.
Air quality has not been assessed against the new standards adopted in December 2015.
The extension will remove 354 hectares of remnant native vegetation and have an impact on 24 threatened species and ecological communities - more than the current approval. The biodiversity offsets will not provide sufficient habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater.
The cumulative impacts on biodiversity, Aboriginal cultural heritage, water sources, greenhouse gas emissions, community and rural industry have not been rigorously assessed.
The mine will produce an additional 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year, exacerbating the impacts of climate change. This is at odds with Australia's commitments under the Paris Accord.
The area has significant Aboriginal cultural heritage values that have not been assessed in a regional context.
The extension removes existing buffer zones for the Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve.
The extension will leave three final voids that will permanently scar the landscape and harm waterways for hundreds of years.
The ongoing impacts on groundwater and surface water systems will be greater than predicted.
The predicted job numbers are overstated compared, with the current workforce extracting the same volume of coal.
Peabody Energy is in deep financial distress and may not be fit to meet all its obligations.
The contract to supply AGL's Bayswater Power Station can be met by the current approval.
The proposal to continue extracting low quality coal while causing irreversible environmental and social damage cannot be justified.

MORE COAL MINES YOU MUST BE JOKING. IN FACT NO LONGER CRIMINAL IGNORANCE , JUST CRIMINAL.
AUSTRALIA PROBABLY HAS KILLED MORE PEOPLE THAN ANY WORLD WAR OR MASS EXTERMINATION THROUGH THE GREED OF COAL MINING. GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE SAND AND TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE AND ARE CONTINUING TO DO!!

I object to the proposal to extend Wilpinjong Mine to within 1.5km of the community at Wollar for the following reasons:

- Any expansion of coal mining, particularly of low quality coal such as that at Wilpinjong has dire implications for our planet; the proposed extension alone will produce an estimated 20 million tonnes of emissions, helping to escalate climate change
- Wilpinjong Mine is already a very marginal operation; mine operator Peabody Energy is known to be struggling financially and could prove unable to meet its clean-up obligations
- Peabody's job number predictions are false, being higher than employee numbers usually required for the proposed volume of coal; conversely predicted impacts on ground and surface water systems are understated. Their predictions cannot be trusted and their proposed noise assessment, monitoring and mitigation measures pay little more than lip service to real environmental concerns.
- No rigorous assessment has been made of the impacts on biodiversity, water, communities or air quality (the latter is still to be assessed in line with new air quality standards coming into force last December)
- The loss of 350 hectares of remnant bushland will impact over 20 threatened species and will not be adequately offset by the proposed biodiversity offsets. Furthermore there will be irreversible scarring of the landscape and damage to waterways that will not be mitigated for many lifetimes, if ever.
-
Peabody Energy's proposal to extend Wilpinjong Mine will trade environmental and social impacts to maintain the viability of an essentially unviable, very marginal operation and cannot be justified.

* The extension of Wilpinjong Mine will make the village of Wollar unlivable.

* The cumulative social impact of loss of population through mining projects from Ulan to Bylong has not been considered.

* The noise assessment, monitoring and mitigation measures are totally inadequate.

* Air quality has not been assessed against the new standards adopted in December 2015.

* The extension will remove 354 hectares of remnant native vegetation and have an impact on 24 threatened species and ecological communities - more than the current approval. The biodiversity offsets will not provide sufficient habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater.

* The cumulative impacts on biodiversity, Aboriginal cultural heritage, water sources, greenhouse gas emissions, community and rural industry have not been rigorously assessed.

* The mine will produce an additional 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year, exacerbating the impacts of climate change. This is at odds with Australia's commitments under the Paris Accord.

* The area has significant Aboriginal cultural heritage values that have not been assessed in a regional context.

* The extension removes existing buffer zones for the Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve.

* The extension will leave three final voids that will permanently scar the landscape and harm waterways for hundreds of years.

* The ongoing impacts on groundwater and surface water systems will be greater than predicted.

* The predicted job numbers are overstated compared, with the current workforce extracting the same volume of coal.

* Peabody Energy is in deep financial distress and may not be fit to meet all its obligations.

* The contract to supply AGL's Bayswater Power Station can be met by the current approval.

* The proposal to continue extracting low quality coal while causing irreversible environmental and social damage cannot be justified.

I am very strongly opposed to the planned Wilpinjong mine extension. I am a resident of the Hunter Valley, and am appalled at the environmental destruction of the valeey by open cut coal mining. I have grave concerns about the social and health impacts of the mine on the residents of Wollar, who are opposed to its extension. I firmly believe that we should rapidly move to renewable energy sources and not continue mining coal due to the catastrophic predictions of the impact of climate change. I urge you to NOT approve this mine extension.