I have lived in Gunnedah for the past 20 years and I have been supporting the Shenhua Watermark coal mine project for the past five years.

It seems to me that hysteria has overtaken common sense with the approval of the Shenhua Watermark coal mine.

Only a few years ago, protestors against the proposal cried foul and insisted on an independent and scientific process fearing political interference would overrule science.

Now, after the independent Planning Assessment Commission has ruled there is no scientific reason to reject the mine after the unprecedented scrutiny as stated by the government, why are the same people now complaining about the justness of the approval?

Even worse, they are asking for our local state and federal MPs to interfere, and change the decision - the very thing they rallied against before! It seems for some, we can just chop and choose, and decide which rulings of an independent 

body we like and which we would rather ignore.

When will people accept that the Shenhua Watermark Project has been reviewed by an independent, expert body who have said local farming will not be harmed?

Or will we see political lobbying of our local National Party MPs by a noisy few result in the decision being overturned at the Commonwealth level because of emotion and fear?

Unfortunately it seems right now the media are more interested in the cries of outrage, regurgitating word-for-word these claims, and in the process, ignoring the findings of the PAC.

As the Commonwealth government prepares to make its assessment of this mine, let’s hope it can put the emotion to one side and be guided by the science.