BY GARY-JON LYSAGHT AND ARIANA GATTI
The proposal for a new open-cut mine around the Singleton
and Hunter Valley around has caused a fluster with environmental activist group,
Lock the Gate Alliance.
The much debated benefit of the proposed Wambo-United coal mine, a joint venture between Glencore and Peabody, includes
the removal of more than 200 hectares of land in preparation to be mined.
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| The mine's proposed boundaries |
Lock the Gate Alliance is accusing Glencore Mining of
using an un-known and unpublished biodiversity document in order to push the
approval for the mine ahead faster.
Lock the Gate Alliance NSW Coordinator Georgina Woods says keeping the documents secret shows fowl play between the mine and the Government.
"The public is being kept in the dark while the mining industry is at the table, stitching up a plan with the Government to get approval for this mine regardless of the cost that it's going to place on our wildlife and our vanishing forest," she said
Lock the Gate Alliance NSW Coordinator Georgina Woods says keeping the documents secret shows fowl play between the mine and the Government.
"The public is being kept in the dark while the mining industry is at the table, stitching up a plan with the Government to get approval for this mine regardless of the cost that it's going to place on our wildlife and our vanishing forest," she said
There is no definite answer on whether the new open-cut mine will be going
ahead.
For Woods, the idea of losing more bushland proves the State Government has failed to protect the local environment.
"This new mine is the epitome of NSW's failed planning and mining laws," she says.
"They're going to allow a nationally unique bushland to be destroyed. They're going to push the central Hunter Valley forest to the brink of local extinction. It occurs no where but in this region.
"So much has already been lost to coal mines and we simply can't afford to keep pushing over this critically endangered woodland any longer."
[Image Source: The Newcastle Herald].
For Woods, the idea of losing more bushland proves the State Government has failed to protect the local environment.
"This new mine is the epitome of NSW's failed planning and mining laws," she says.
"They're going to allow a nationally unique bushland to be destroyed. They're going to push the central Hunter Valley forest to the brink of local extinction. It occurs no where but in this region.
"So much has already been lost to coal mines and we simply can't afford to keep pushing over this critically endangered woodland any longer."
[Image Source: The Newcastle Herald].
