The NSW Government has breached a key pre-election promise and placed Sydney's water supply at risk by approving a damaging mine expansion proposal only a few hundred metres from the Avon water supply dam.
The Department of Planning yesterday approved an expansion of the Dendrobium mine, a long-wall coal mine located entirely within Sydney's drinking water catchment.
The state’s peak environment organization, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, has condemned Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke’s decision to approve the Maules Creek and Boggabri coal mines.
"These decisions represent a disgraceful failure of government policy on mining and gas development,” NCC Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke said.
"These mines will carve the heart out of Leard Forest, destroying almost 3,500 hectares of woodland in the Brigalow Belt South Bioregion, a nationally-listed biodiversity hotspot.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has welcomed AGL’s announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange this morning that it has suspended its application to expand its coal seam gas fields into residential areas of south-west Sydney.
“This will be welcome news for local residents but it is important to recognize that this is only a temporary reprieve,” NCC Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke said.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW is standing shoulder to shoulder with the communities of south-west Sydney by formally opposing AGL’s proposal to expand coal seam gas fields into residential areas.
The NCC argues in its submission to the Department of Planning that AGL’s Camden Gas Project Stage 3 proposal should be rejected because of the serious threats it poses to human health and the region’s water resources.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW today backed calls by independent MP Tony Windsor for stronger national regulation of mining and gas projects to minimise the industry’s impacts on communities and water resources.
NCC Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke said the NSW Government’s failure to effectively regulate the impacts of the mining and gas industries on communities and water resources made greater federal involvement essential.
Nature Conservation Council of NSW Campaigns Director Kate Smolski will appear before the NSW Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) in Singleton today to argue that an application to extend an existing Coal & Allied mine be refused on environmental grounds.
The PAC is considering the company’s application to expand its Carrington Pit, north-west of Singleton, to extract 17 million tonnes of coal over a six-year period, destroying 137 hectares of farm land near the Hunter River.
Farmers and conservationists are calling on the Federal Government to reject Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek mine proposal and investigate whether the company has provided false or misleading information to obtain an approval under federal environment law.
Conservation groups have condemned Forests NSW and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) following the release of details of hundreds of breaches of forestry licences and codes.
During the 2011-2012 financial year, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) found that Forests NSW had breached its licences and relevant codes 634 times at the 39 sites the authority inspected. [1]
The Hunter Environment Lobby has launched court action in a last bid to stop the expansion of a polluting and environmentally destructive coal mine at the edge Camberwell village northwest of Singleton.
The Ashton Coal’s South East Open Cut (SEOC) mine proposal consists of an open-cut coal mine within a few hundred metres of Camberwell, on the floodplain of Glennies Creek, that would produce up to 3.6 million tonnes of coal a year for seven years.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has called on the NSW Government to categorically rule out CSG exploration and production in urban areas following revelations that Sydney is likely to become a hotspot for fracking.
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