A representative of Lock the Gate has told the Independent Planning Commission the Hunter Valley Operations coal mine has a poor record on emissions abatement, and that its proposed extension would significantly increase both coal production and greenhouse gas emissions.
New South Wales coordinator Nic Clyde told the Commission a previous greenhouse abatement plan approved for the mine contained no actual abatement actions, and that emissions under the national Safeguard Mechanism reached their highest level last year since the scheme began. He said the company’s own figures showed a clear increase in coal production and scope one emissions projected under the extension, including a 61 per cent jump in the project’s first year, contradicting public claims of a downward emissions trajectory.
Mr Clyde also said proposed pre-drainage trials for methane emissions would come too late, given mining is planned to begin in more gas-intensive sections of the site within the next three years.
Responding to questions from Commissioners, Mr Clyde said the clearest abatement opportunity available was refusing the project altogether, arguing that new emissions from the mine would exceed the state’s carbon budget regardless of whether the project’s emissions trajectory rose, fell or remained flat.
The submission forms part of a broader set of public hearings this week into the Hunter Valley Operations extension, with Muswellbrook Shire Council among those speaking in favour of the project’s approval.
