Advertisement

Farmers in NSW's Bylong Valley fear for water and prime land if coalfields developed

<span>Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AAP</span>
Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Farmers and activists in NSW’s Bylong Valley say they are concerned about the damage to water quality and prime agricultural land in the area if development of two coalfields is given the green light by the state government.

The NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, has confirmed to locals Guardian Australia’s report in October that the state’s powerful advisory body for strategic release has recommended opening up for development two coalfields in the area: Wollar and Hawkins-Rumker.

Consideration of the new areas comes after NSW’s Independent Planning Commission rejected Korean company Kepco’s proposal to build a $260m coalmine in the valley at nearby Mudgee because it threatened groundwater and farming, in addition to failing to do enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Related: New coalmines in Queensland don’t help existing communities, they hurt them | Richard Denniss

The fate of the IPC is now in the balance, with a review of its role under way following a furious campaign against it by the mining lobby and the Daily Telegraph.

A spokeswoman for Barilaro said the Wollar resource, which is near the hamlet of the same name, is roughly the same size as an area Wilpinjong Coal, the operators of a controversial existing mine nearby, have previously asked for permission to explore.

However, local residents are concerned about a lack of clarity about the size and shape of the nearby Hawkins-Rumker field – a name which has previously attached to vast 830 sq km area stretching north from near the town of Rylstone that was drilled by the government in 2015.

interactive

The area under consideration now is “smaller”, Barilaro’s spokeswoman said.

“It’s a huge map and they won’t come out and define anything,” a local farmer, Phil Kennedy, told Guardian Australia.

Kennedy, who has just been elected president of the Bylong Valley Progress Association, runs sheep and beef cattle on a 1,200ha property that at its southern end falls within the Hawkins-Rumker area set out on a map published by the state government in 2015.

He said he was mostly concerned about the impact coalmining could have on the aquifer in the valley that waters his farm, and the loss of high-quality agricultural land in the area – two factors that the IPC considered when rejecting the Kepco proposal.

“To wreck the aquifer is just crazy,” he said.

“It was in total jeopardy with Kepco and they wouldn’t guarantee it.

“This one’s going to be the same, it’s in the same valley.”

He said there had also been “no demonstration of how they’re going to remediate” prime agricultural land once mining has finished.

Bev Smiles, a community activist who lives near Wollar, said the existing mine near the town “virtually wiped out the Wollar community as we speak over a 10-year period”.

Related: Albanese plans to visit mine workers on first Queensland tour as Labor leader

“I’m one of the impacted people if it moves to the east,” she said.

“It’s just this never-ending growth of an industry that a lot of people believe should be going in the opposite direction, not physically but philosophically.

“I’ve got a bushfire opposite my house right now – it’s not threatening but when one looks at the bushfire season across the state, a new coalmine isn’t where we should be heading.”

“The cumulative impact on our local environment and our local community has been severe.”

Barilaro confirmed Guardian Australia’s report that Hawkins-Rumker was under consideration in a letter to the Bylong Valley Progress Association sent a fortnight ago.

In it, he said the community would be consulted before any proposal went to cabinet.

“These recommendations would go to cabinet before I, as the responsible minister, would make any final decision,” he said.

His spokeswoman said the same process would apply to the Wollar area if Wilpinjong Coal’s proposal to expand its existing mine was refused.