The Independent Planning Commission is set to hand down its decision on the Hunter Valley Operations Continuation Project on Wednesday, with environmental group Lock the Gate renewing its opposition to the mine’s extension.
Lock the Gate National Coordinator Georgina Woods said a great deal hung on the decision.
“It is the largest coal mining application ever made under New South Wales planning law and will unleash more than 800 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution at a time when the world is already tipping over into very dangerous levels of global warming,” Ms Woods said.
“The Hunter is already being hurt by the pollution that’s caused by mining and burning coal, and we can’t afford to keep on driving that global warming up.”
The NSW Minerals Council meanwhile has said the project should be approved due to what it describes as overwhelming community support, and has argued the extension would align with the government’s current climate policies. Ms Woods disputed that characterisation, saying the decision ultimately came down to a discretionary balancing act for the Commission.
“What we’re really weighing up here is the sort of short-term needs of the Hunter for its economic turnover and the families that work at the mine versus really very extensive and irreversible damage to the public interest that won’t be able to be undone,” she said.
On the question of jobs, Ms Woods said mine approvals alone did not guarantee job security, pointing to recent examples of mines closing suddenly with little notice to their workforce. She renewed calls for the State Government to pass its Future Jobs and Investment Bill, which she said had been before Parliament since March.
“This region has produced a great deal of wealth for New South Wales and Australia over many generations. And it’s time that the workforce will be looked after if the mine closes at the end of the year,” she said.
The NSW Minerals Council has previously said the Continuation Project has strong local backing, citing more than 16,000 signatures on a letter of support and more than 3,000 submissions to the IPC, with the council reporting 94 per cent in favour of approval.
The Commission’s determination is expected Wednesday.
