NSW Greens MP and mining spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon has called for the public disclosure of the agreement between the NSW government and the giant Chinese Shehua coalmining company for exploration rights over the Watermark lease on the Gunnedah Plains in the State’s north-west.
The deal was announced by Mineral Resources Minister Ian Macdonald who also doubles as the Primary Industries Minister.
In opening up the rich agricultural land to coalmining, Macdonald has fulfilled his role as mines minister but betrayed farmers who come under his primary industries portfolio.
Local farmers, who are already engaging in a legal and on-the-ground battle with BHP Billiton over another mining site, are ropeable.
“Macca” has granted a $300 million exploration licence to the state-owned Shehua group which is the second biggest coalmining group in the world but Rhiannon says it is only the first step towards a full-scale, fully operational mine.
The Iemma government says this is an ‘exploration’ license but really it’s the go-ahead for massive coal mines that will rip the heart out of the Gunnedah Plains. History shows that this government never says ‘no’ to the granting of a mining license following exploration.
The NSW Nationals have also been caught in the wheels of the Watermark project: former Nationals leader and deputy premier Ian Armstrong has agreed to chair a community consultative committee to investigate the project.
“From previous experience we believe that the government’s handpicked community consultative committees are a charade, paying lip service to local voices to justify steamrolling the community,”Rhiannon said.
The Shehua deal is being sold to locals on the grounds that the Chinese company’s investment will generate funding for hospitals, schools and roads, plus $1 million annually for five years for a regional community trust.
The lure of money in an area that has been cash-starved for generations is great.
What about the impact of the 190sqkm mining development on “feel good” issues like water rescue, sustainable farming, food security and climate change?
Not even in the race; they don’t rate a mention.
This a government that is desperate for every dollar it can raise to pay for its re-election bid in 2011. It would sell the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge if an offer was made.
Not that Macdonald, who was first elected to the upper house and incredible 20 years ago, need worry about his re-election. The “hard left” has decided to dump him from its ticket and award his place to Luke Foley, assistant general secretary of the NSW Labor Party.
Why are people so short sighted as to think that it is the farmers who are getting shafted here? What about the consumers who benefit from the produce? Every Australian is getting shafted here. Why do they not understand this?
This is some of the most productive agricultural land in Australia, thanks to magnificent soils and a good, relatively shallow underground aquifer which extends for probably hundreds of kilometres.
Mining under that land will damage the surface, probably hugely reducing agricultural productivity forever . It will certainly pollute the aquifer and make the water in the aquifer unfit for irrigation. The aquifer will certainly be rendered unusable over a much bigger area than the area mined, perhaps in time over a hugely greater area. Forever. The damage will not be repairable.
It is obscene that mining this land should even be considered, let alone promoted.
These mines must not be allowed to proceed. Furthermore a very close watch should be kept on the effect that existing mines in the area may have on the aquifer. Should there be damage the mines should be closed.
And what about soil depletion? I know that mines “restore” their land, however I have read that it takes thousands of years to regenerate only milimetres of soil depth. Any project of this size will result in new land forms, residual voids with deep, cold and acidic water in them and the loss of many millions of tonnes of the most precious thing on earth – soil.
Sure, we are becoming aware of global warming, light pollution, dust and air pollution and deforestation and habitat loss due to mining and coal usage.
Where is the public outcry about soil loss? Without soil, there are no crops and no life. Essentially, once it is gone it is gone. End of game.
I live and work in the Upper Hunter Valley, in a land of coal mines and power stations and these things are in evidence to me all day every day.
Thank goodness that our skies aren’t like Bejing’s – yet.
This is not the only way that Macdonald has ‘stabbed Primary Producers in the back’. His grab for the millions of dollars in asserts that the RLPB’s (Rural Lands Protection Boards) in NSW hold and manage on behalf of Primary Producers. His systematic destruction of an organization that has served rural NSW for the over 100 years is just soooo typical of how the Iemma government does business in NSW.
The RLPB is the FRONT LINE organization for animal health and biosecurity in NSW. What Macdonald has done, with the help of his minnows at State Council in Orange, is another typical disgrace to democracy that this government specializes in.