Mixed Reaction On Mine Policy
Newcastle Herald
Monday February 5, 2007
A NEW State Government coalmining policy that bans future open-cut pits on the western side of Lake Macquarie can override exploration leases throughout NSW.
Planning Minister Frank Sartor said yesterday the extractive industries policy would introduce tougher environmental requirements for all new open-cut mines and extensions to existing pits.It will not affect the controversial Anvil Hill project, proposed for Muswellbrook, or any other open-cut or extension for which applications have already been lodged.Mr Sartor said specific details of the policy would be made public when the legislation was approved by Parliament this week.The more stringent requirements would involve greenhouse gas pollution, impacts on surface and underground water, threatened species and sensitive biodiversity, resource recovery, transport impacts and rehabilitation.The Lake Macquarie ban resulted from community opposition to a Centennial Coal open-cut proposed for Awaba, Mr Sartor said.Centennial withdrew its plan last year and the member for Lake Macquarie, Jeff Hunter, successfully lobbied for an open-cut ban to be established throughout the local government area so residents would not have to fight a similar plan in future, Mr Sartor said.Mr Sartor telephoned The Herald at 9.30 last Friday night to annnounce the open-cut ban and his new policy as the editorial department was finalising a front page report on Lake Macquarie mayor Greg Piper and Maitland mayor Peter Blackmore joining Newcastle mayor John Tate to run as an "independent dream team" at next month's state election.Asked yesterday whether there was a connection between the independents' decision to stand and his late-night announcement, Mr Sartor said that while the new mining policy had been in the pipeline for about 12 months, the announcement "timing was a bit coincidental".Centennial Coal representatives declined yesterday to comment on the Lake Macquarie open-cut ban.NSW Minerals Council chief executive Nikki Williams said she was disappointed by the ban as her group had long argued for mining proposals to be determined on individual merits.Steve Phillips, a spokesman for Hunter Valley climate change action group Rising Tide, said the Lake Macquarie ban covered only a tiny amount of the state's coal deposits and if the NSW Government was serious about the industry's local and global environmental impacts Mr Sartor had to find the internal fortitude to reject the Anvil Hill proposal.Dave Snedden, a spokesman for No Open-cut Mine for Awaba, and Dianne Sykes, a spokeswoman for Southlake Communities Against The Mine, welcomed the ban.Mr Snedden said it would reduce Lake Macquarie pollution, save threatened species habitat and was a step towards a green corridor between the lake and Watagan mountains.Ms Sykes said: "This proves that when the community rallies for a just cause it can win."
© 2007 Newcastle Herald