Hey, Why Not? NSW Approves Expanding Coal Mine For 52 Million Tons Of New Production
A coalmine in the Upper Hunter Valley has been given approval to expand by the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission. Mangoola Coal Operations, a subsidiary of Glencore Coal, applied to extract an additional 52m tonnes of coal over eight years at the Mangoola mine near Muswellbrook.
The commission approved the project, which will create a new coal pit north of the current mine site and extend the company’s development consent by 13 months to 2030, on Monday afternoon. The decision comes less than a month before a state byelection in the Upper Hunter in which the future of the coal industry in the region is expected to play a central role.
Margot White, who lives 5km from the current mine, said she was outraged by the decision. White runs a small beef farm and sits on the Wybong Concerned Landholders group, which has about 64 members who are opposed to Glencore’s operations in the area. She said the mine had also been opposed by the Muswellbrook Shire Council but the commission “had not listened to one single word we said”. “They’re calling it an expansion. It’s a whole new pit over the road,” she said. “I live 5km from the current mine. I’m now going to be 2.5km from it.
EDIT
It said that, on balance, it had determined the project was in the public interest and approved it with environmental conditions, including that Mangoola Coal minimise environmental impacts and find suitable environmental offsets. “Notwithstanding the concerns raised … the commission finds that on balance and when weighed against the impacts under the current policy and regulatory framework, the project would generate net positive social and economic benefits for the local area, Hunter region and to NSW,” the commission wrote.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/26/nsw-planning-body-gives-green-light-to-hunter-valley-coalmine-expansion
= new reply since forum marked as read
