SHENHUA’S Watermark Coal Project has been declared “approvable” by the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC).
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The decision, released on Friday, will leave farmers “gutted” according to NSW Farmers, and has left the Lock the Gate Alliance “gobsmacked”.
The commission, headed by Gabrielle Kibble, heard two days of submissions about the open-cut mine 3km west of Breeza on the Liverpool Plains in Gunnedah at the June hearing.
Its report following the hearing said the site “on the less fertile higher ground above the Liverpool Plains, should be able to be mined without significant impacts to the agricultural productivity of the Liverpool Plains”.
The report did, however, recommend Shenhua’s lease be amended to remove “significant” areas of the black soil plans.
“The commission also recommended that following on from the work undertaken in the New England North West Regional Land Use Plan, the NSW government should undertake some more detailed work or refinements to identify and protect those highly valuable, fertile black soil plains where mining should be prohibited,” the report’s summary says.
The commission found the mine was “approvable”, subject to further water modelling.
The commission engaged water expert Dr Colin Mackie to review the water impacts of the project, and met with the NSW Office of Water.
Dr Mackie recommended extra modelling to resolve uncertainties.
“Given the critical importance of the region’s water resources to maintaining strong agricultural production, the commission is convinced that the uncertainties identified by Dr Mackie need to be resolved prior to any determination of this application,” the report said.
The report recognised farmers’ “significant concerns and objections”.
The commission heard many emotional pleas from farmers during the two-day Gunnedah PAC hearing.
Shenhua Watermark welcomed the release of the review and its recommendation the project be approved subject to conditions.
Shenhua Watermark project manager Paul Jackson said the review report “validated” the scientific assessments undertaken since Shenhua acquired the exploration licence in 2008, and confirmed the proposal was unlikely to significantly impact agricultural productivity in the Liverpool Plains.
Shenhua said it would work with the PAC’s independent water expert, Dr Mackie, to assist with the additional water modelling he had requested.
Mr Jackson said the company had some reservations about a number of recommendations, in particular those relating to additional land acquisitions, which “could add significant unexpected costs and result in the project owning a greater number of black soil farms”.
He said the project would conduct a detailed review of the PAC report and its recommendations in the coming weeks before responding to the Department of Environment and Planning.
“We have always maintained the project should be considered using fact and science and we hope the PAC review will satisfy any doubts there may be about the science underpinning our assessment,” Mr Jackson said.
“For the last six years we have worked tirelessly, consulted widely with the community, listened to their views and refined our proposal to accommodate community concerns.
“While it has been a challenging process, we are pleased the PAC has acknowledged the merits of the project and the comprehensive assessment work we have undertaken to reach this point.”
The mine will extract up to 10 million tonnes per annum of coal for 30 years, and employ more than 400 people during operation.
NSW Farmers said it was “deeply disappointed” with the report and critical of the NSW government’s approvals framework.
“Our members will be gutted,” NSW Farmers president Fiona Simson said.
“This report gives them and the community no certainty about their future or the future of the Liverpool Plains land and water resources.
“This project is inappropriate and the whole area should be off limits to this type of development.
“The NSW government has comprehensively failed to put in place the right checks and balances to protect precious agricultural areas.”
Ms Simson said there were “massive flaws” in the water data.
“Enough is enough,” she said.
“The people of the Liverpool Plains deserve certainty and it’s time our elected representatives stood up for the future of our industry.”
The Lock the Gate Alliance also said the report showed the approvals system was “broken”.
National campaign co-ordinator for Lock the Gate Carmel Flint said it was “gob smacking” the commission could recommend the project proceed when there were “obvious gaps in knowledge” about its impact.
“This just goes to show that the planning system in NSW is completely broken,” she said.
“The planning and assessments system in NSW needs a radical overhaul and a far more rigorous approach to approvals than the current process of rubber stamping.”
Information about the project is available on www.shenhuawatermark.com or through Shenhua’s office on (02) 6741 8800. Details about the PAC process are available on the PAC website at www.pac.nsw.gov.au.