Angus Place Extension Project.

As the modelling from the CSIRO makes clear, and the experience of previous mining in the region has previously demonstrated, this mine will have unacceptable impacts on the unique swamps and geology of the region.

As a representative of a Registered Aboriginal Party for Angus Place, we are supportive of Centennial Coal's application for the Angus Place Extension Project as this has extension has been extensively discussed at the Western Region Aboriginal Heritage Consultation Committee and environmentally and in regards to cultural heritage there are No extenuating circumstances that will from our point of view preclude the project from going ahead.

I wish to register my opposition to the project on the following grounds.
1. This extension is typical of the coal industry's complete disregard for the environment. To consider plundering over 10,500 ha of the Newnes State Forest, at a time in history we know that every scrap of forest and every tree is vital for the continued existence of human life, and the vast number of creatures that make up the environment that supports us, is totally absurd.
2. To even think of applying for permission to carry out this destruction until 2053 is beyond absurd.
3. The potential damage to the following swamps, Tri Star, Twin Gully, Birds Rock, Crocodile, and Trail 6, must not be allowed.
4. Damage to these swamps will threaten the existence of the Blue Mountains Water Skink, and the Giant Dragonfly, as well as other species in the area.
5. Water flows in both the Wolgan River and Carne Creek would be seriously diminished. The Wolgan River passes through a World Heritage Area, and must be protected.
6. Unavoidable damage to natural surface formations would occur, and must not be allowed.
7. The plan to divert treated water to Mt Piper power station is short sighted. Mt Piper station is among the four worst emitters of Sulphur Dioxide in Australia, as well as the
inevitable CO2 emissions. Overall emissions from Mt Piper are increasing. Its long term viability is low.
8. No proposed offsets can compensate for the destruction of the inevitable loss of national and international heritage that this Extension would cause.
9. The coal industry is in its death throes. Renewable energy has been proven to be able to supply the energy we need. There is absolutely no need to damage more irreplaceable landscape.

Mining Projects
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Locked Bag 5022
Parramatta NSW 2124

Dear Sir/Madam,

State Significant Project – Angus Place Mine Extension (SSD 5602 - Amendment Exhibition)

I request that the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (the DoPIE) recommend refusal of consent, as Centennial Coal has not modified the Angus Place mine extension proposal to adequately protect nationally endangered swamps and has sought to grandfather its consent until 2053, preventing future necessary adaption of the energy sector to address the growing climate emergency. As a result:

- I oppose the mine extension as it will fracture the sandstone strata supporting the nationally endangered swamps.

- I request that if any consent is issued, then it must be reviewed every 5 years with a possibility of cancellation from 2025, and proposing to grandfather the Angus Place mine consent until 2053 ignores the growing climate catastrophe by locking in coal-fired electric power.

- Please require Centennial Coal to revise this amended proposal to prevent damage to spectacular Birds Rock, Wolgan River, Carne Creek, pagodas, cliffs and the nationally endangered swamps in the 2,000 hectare Study Area.

- Centennial Coal must not be allowed to further replicate the damage it has already caused to nationally threatened upland swamps on the Newnes Plateau.

- To ensure this significant central part of the Gardens of Stone reserve proposal, mini-longwall mining methods should be applied instead of the intensive longwall mining proposed.

- The excessive clearing of 50 hectares of public forest for an additional roads, ventilation and pumping facilities must be reduced and all facilities located away from sensitive areas.

- Wolgan Falls must not run dry - the proposed longall mining panels must be shortened by hundreds of metres along the Wolgan River side of the Study Area to prevent river water losses due to far field impacts associated with the extensive Wolgan Lineament Field.

- Pristine Carne Creek, and its waters that flow through the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and past the Wolgan Valley resort must not be contaminated with iron and manganese released or suffer reduced flows due to fracturing of surface rocks.

- In the seven years since Centennial’s consultants identified the need for targeted surveys of nationally endangered plants, the company failed to undertake these searches. Lithgow


Environment Group has in that time identified many sites within the proposal where these Federally listed plants occur, highlighting the weakness of the company’s environmental assessment.

- Due to the extent of mining impacts and duration of approval being sought, the amended Angus Place mine extension proposal must be subject to an Independent Planning Commission hearing, review and determination process.

I have not made political donations or gifts totalling $1,000 or more in the last two years.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Yours sincerely,

I am a resident of the Wolgan Valley, downstream from Angus Place colliery and I completely and unequivically oppose the proposed extension of this coal mine.
I own and operate the Newnes Hotel cabins and camp ground and I make my living from providing comfortable accommodation at this popular tourist destination. The Wolgan River, the natural environment and the spectacular landscape are all threatened by this proposal.
While I am told that you will not consider the greater, global environmental implications of this proposal I do need to point out the insanity of an expansion of a coal mine in 2020 when we have all the evidence we need that we should not mine or burn coal anymore.
A planning system which basically ignores the wider consequences of this proposal or any proposal is clearly inadequate.

The Wolgan River has undoubtedly been badly affected by coal mining at both Springvale and Angus Place in the past when groundwater from the catchments of the Newnes Plateau has been polluted and diverted. Wolgan Falls are no more and the river bed upstream from ‘Wolgan Gap’ frequently dries out completely. The last pristine Wolgan catchment remaining is Carne Creek and this proposal plans to drain up to 30ml of water per day from that catchment.

Endangered swamps (NSW Conservation Act 1995 and Commonwealth Conservation Act 1999) which feed the catchment will be undermined and drained. The endangered plant and insect communities they support will be ‘sacrificed’. We must not destroy these precious remnants of our natural world especially at a time when these environments are crucial for continuing human existence. This criminal destruction of a pristine swamp environment cannot be offset with a compensatory monetary payment. This practice cannot be justified because the swamps are destroyed for ever.

The iconic Pagoda Landscape will be undermined resulting in cliff collapses and cracks through the rock formations. These destructive events resulting from past long wall operations at Angus Place and Springvale have been extensively documented. Despite geological studies documented in the Centennial’s EIS I have no doubt that this present proposal will continue to cause this destruction and negatively affect these outstanding landscapes.

Carne Creek is the water supply for Emirates One and Only Wolgan Resort. The possibility of Carne Creek being destroyed will make their operation unviable. Also, here at Newnes the Wolgan River forms one of the attractions to visitors. National Parks can fine someone taking wood from the forest – how can it be allowed for Centennial to take our river ?

This proposal will adversely effect tourism opportunities which have sprung up in the Lithgow area. These new businesses form one sustainable way for the economic future of this town. The Destination Pagoda proposal forms a detailed plan how the Gardens of Stone could become a world class tourist destination. The Centennial proposal on the other hand will destroy these natural assets and thereby undermine (!) our way forward.

Thankyou for the opportunity to comment
Thomas Ebersoll
NewnesHotel Cabins

I support the extension.

Angus Place Mine Extension Project.
Submission. Application No SSD-5602
Neville Castle, 3 Ridge Street Portland NSW 2847
20/04/2020
I fully support the above-mentioned project for an extension in production at the Angus Place Mine.
Reasons for support.
The Lithgow area has had many set-backs in the past decade in terms of job losses. Job losses in the area include the closing of Wallerawang Power Station, the closure of Baal Bone Colliery as well as some smaller coal mines. Currently, Angus Place colliery is in a “Care and Maintenance” phase where there is only minimal staff making sure the mine does not fall into disrepair. When in full production there was about 268 people working there.
The extension project will allow for some 250 (approximately) people to have job security until 2053. The keeping of these jobs is vital to stop the Lithgow area falling into a “ghost town”. Already large numbers of young people have left the area in search of work.
As for replacement jobs, if the mine was not given this extension, it is hard to see where they will come from. We have been told for about 20 years that Tourism will be the answer to our jobs’ crisis. Until now, only a handful of jobs have come from tourism and in fact the only major tourist project in the area was the Zig Zag railway which itself is closed and highly unlikely to reopen at least in the short to medium term.
The extension project is only seeking to have a 12.5 % increase in what is already approved In many instances, such a percentage of change to an existing DA would require little in the way of amendment, so one could wonder, if it was not a coal mine would we even need such a complicated process to seek the change.
Angus Place was originally built by the government for the purpose of supplying coal for the local power stations, which if granted then this extension would allow Angus Place to do what it was intended to do.
The underground road connection between Angus Place and Springvale mine is a very good idea. It is only a short distance between the two mines so the connection should be able to be done very easily. This would allow coal to be transported by conveyor belt on to Mt Piper Power Station.
Even if renewable power becomes more widespread most of it does not properly cover “base-load” power that coal is capable of. With Mt Piper the newest coal fired power station in NSW it should therefore be the last to be decommissioned and the one to be needed furthest into the future, with Angus Place being best suited to supply the coal it needs.
Some people may see the possible transporting of coal by truck as a negative, however these people may not be aware of the already existing “coal-haul” road between Angus Place and Mt Piper which therefore means that coal trucks would not be on local roads.
It also should be noted (ABC news, 20th April, 2020 that during the current COVID-19 crisis, that the sectors helping to prop up the Australian economy are the mining of Coal, Iron Ore and Gold. Therefore, the importance of Coal and coal mining to our economy can not be understated.
Neville Castle, Emeritus Mayor, Lithgow City Council.

Please find Objection from MDEG attached

No comments - all I want to say is in the attached submission.

I wish to object to the extension on the following grounds:

Table 8-22 of the amendment report states that the operational facility would generate 364,500 tCO2-e/year under the scope 3 greenhouse gas assessment. Assuming around a 30-year operational life at a consistent production rate this would see a total generation of 10,935,000 tCO2-e/year. Accepting the variability and limited accuracy in equivalency data this would equate to something in the region of needing 0.5 million acres of forest to sequester the CO2 emissions (Source: https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator).

Secondly, the NSW Government is looking to be carbon neutral by 2050 (source: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Climate-change/achieving-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-fact-sheet-160604.pdf). This is a progressive process. The applicant is looking to extend operation of the coal mine beyond this date. This is inconsistent with the NSW Government policy.

The Australian Government is a signatory of United Nations Paris Agreement and prior to that the various sustainable development agreements back to WCED in 1987. As a signatory, the Australian Government is committed to reducing its reliance on fossil fuels, and by extension, the generation of fossil fuels by other nations.

In conclusion, the Proposal does not respect Australia’s commitments under the Paris Agreement, and it results in the generation of unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions in the short-to-medium term. While the proposal only contributes 0.3% of the State’s total emissions this is still substantial in the context of one generation source.

The proposal would only secure direct employment for 450 people. This is the equivalent of 00.1% of the NSW labour market (https://profile.id.com.au/australia/employment-status?WebID=100), which is inconsequential: or three times less than the equivalent GHG emissions generated by the Proposal. While I appreciate this is a somewhat flippant comment, the EIS remarks how socio-economically critical the development would be. It also notes the $2,186 million investment. As NSW’s GDP stood at $560 billion in 2016-17 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_New_South_Wales) this would equate to around 0.001% equivalent of GDP over an assumed 30 year operation life. This makes the economics of the proposal far less attractive at the State-level than reported.

Finally, I would question the ability to offset the loss of a forest swamp community. The liability report should be prepared ahead of making a determination on the application and not as a mitigation commitment. It is clear that Stygofauna have a limited capacity to recover because of their low mobility and low reproductive rates. CSIRO has made clear the risks (https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=csiro:EP158350&dsid=DS4, refer to Page VI). The recommendation is to carry out a risk assessment that clearly demonstrates these risks.

I believe this extension should be approved due to the good track record that the operator has in regards to sustainable mining with minimal impact to the environment.
Coal mining is going to be required for many years yet for use in Australia and export to meet the world demand. If this is the case then underground mining is by far the preference to open cut and should be encouraged. Also, Angus place has some of the best quality black coal in the world with a very high calorific value and low ash - which is the prefered type to reduce emissions and waste - good for the environment - esspecially if we can then reduce the need for the brown coal stations.
The are many objectors to this project who don't live in the area and should not be permitted to have a say. They seem to object based soley on a philosphy or belief that coal is bad without any solid scientific evidence of this fact.
Given the current economic impact that Covid-19 is going to have on the economy for many years, we are going to have recover financially and coal exports will go a long way to getting the nation back on top.
Then there is the job impact that will affect over 300 workers and their families in the local area
Angus Place supports up to 300 employees and plays a big part in the supply of coal for local electricity generation it also has private haulage roads that keep a lot of trucks of our local roads. It also supports local community and sporting groups. The employees of Angus Place also support many charities in the area. Angus Place has a good track record of mining in the local area with minimal impact to people that live here and the local environment.

The proposed extension of Angus Place colliery underpins reliable, dispatchable electricity supply for the National Electricity Market as it tranistions to a cleaner energy future. Approval of the application is essential due to the symbiosis with Mt Piper Power Station.
A local, cost effective and technically suitable coal supply for the Mt Piper Power Station is an essential requirement for energy security as the level of renewables increases in the system. In order to enable the clean energy future we all desire, Mt Piper must continue to operate, flexibly, reliably and cost-effectively to provide the grid stability needed to enable renewable generation. Without this key asset operating as a viable concern until 2043, a high proportion of renewables is not feasible now, or in the future. The bulk of coal fired generation will wind down as the grid transitions to renewables, as it should. This needs to happen in an orderly fashion such that we retain reliable, cost effective electricity in this country thru the transition. To do that, we need Mt Piper, it is the newest, cleanest, most reliable black coal generator in the state. It was paid for by taxpayers, sold to upgrade the roads in Sydney, and we deserve to have the best availble station as the last one operating on the transition to our shared clean energy future.

Without Mt Piper the grid will still have coal as a core part of the transition to renewables, but it will be supplied by older, less reliable, less flexible, less efficient facilities and potentially by brown coal from Victoria, which is several orders of magnitude higher in emmissions intensity.
With Mt Piper running, but mostly supplied from sources other than Angus Place, will result in higher cost electricity, less efficiency from poorer quality coal, less reliability from technical unsuitability to Mt Piper and with added carbon footprint from the transport of alternative coal into the region. When considering submissions regarding Carbon emmissions for this development, sound analysis of the realistic alternatives should be undertaken. This development is most likely the lowest carbon pathway for the NEM to achieve the required coal generation part of the transition energy mix.

As a core essential service and economic enabler, the ready supply of low cost electricity on a reliable grid is one of the very few areas where Australia for a long time enjoyed a competitive advantage in a tough global market for value-added goods & services. We have consistently whittled away our competitive advantages to the point where Australia is a banana republic of raw exports and services. Evidenced by the Coronavirus pandemic, we cannot hinge our economic top-ups on such things as tourism, education exports, restaurants, retail, coffee shops, etc. and call our economy diversified. We must prioritise the fundamental economic enablers for the good of the national economy and social wellbeing, this must be done with best possible management of the environmental factors.
Australia's successful future starts right here, with this application. Are we willing and able, as a group of individuals assessing an application from a mining company, to see the big picture and balance all the factors?

The project area and local economy has been the subject of coal mining for over 120 years, the environmental management of those activities has transitioned from very poor to world class in that time. Looking at today and the future, mining companies now must apply the most rigorous of expert environmental science and knowledge to design their operations and management systems. On the regulations side, governments have also transitioned from very poor oversight to world class regulation, scrutiny and abiliity to contol the activities of mining companies. Now and into the future, an application and approval will be subject to the best possible science and oversight. Even with the chequered past on all sides, the area is still pristine and beautiful and we all love to experience the natural environment. The mining company must commit and be held to account to deliver the environmental outcomes society desires, this should not require rejection of the application to achieve.

We can't judge today's application by the past. The best available sciemce that forms the application determines the environmental impact to be minimal and manageable and the social and economic impact to be positive for the community. The social and economic impact of the development is overwhelminly positive in the local context. The strategic importance to the nation of this application is profound and should not be minimised.

On the balance of all factors, we should all support the application, and hold the company to account in managing our environment.

Already coal mining has destroyed over half the swamps on Newnes Plateau, and this proposed Angus Pace mine extension shall ruin many of the last undamaged national heritage listed swamps there and also fracture Birds Rock, a large sandstone monument in a “protected” flora reserve. I fully support and request detailed consideration of the expert submissions regarding this project already made by Dr Anne Young and Julie Favell. My degree in Earth Sciences concentrated on geomorphology, and was followed by over 30 years working in NSW natural lands management and research, predominantly in sandstone landscapes. During those years, and since retirement, I have close association with the coal mining industry through industry committee membership and participation in professional conferences and land rehabilitation field events. My witnessing of continuing unacceptable impacts of coal mining projects such as Angus Place, despite the widespread knowledge published by persons such as Dr Young referred to above, confirm that ongoing landscape permanent degradation cannot be justified by only short term employment and other ephemeral economic benefits.

Mining Projects, NSW Department of Planning,
Industry and Environment Locked Bag 5022
Parramatta NSW 2124

Dear Sir/Madam,

State Significant Project –Angus Place Mine Extension (SSD 5602-Amendment Exhibition)

I request that the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (the DoPIE) recommend refusal of consent, as Centennial Coal has not modified the Angus Place mine extension proposal to adequately protect nationally endangered swamps (endangered under the EPBC Act). The proponent has also sought to grandfather its consent until 2053. This is a ridiculously long approval period and prevents future necessary changes to the energy sector to address the growing climate emergency.

As a result:

• I oppose the mine extension as it will fracture the sandstone strata supporting the nationally endangered swamps. This is known to have happened nearby, causing the drying out of swamps.

• I request that if any consent is issued, then it must be reviewed every 5 years with a possibility of cancellation from 2025. I oppose the plan to grandfather the Angus Place mine consent until 2053, as this totally ignores the growing climate catastrophe by locking in coal-fired electric power.

• Please require Centennial Coal to revise this amended proposal to prevent damage to spectacular Birds Rock, Wolgan River, Carne Creek, pagodas, cliffs and the nationally endangered swamps in the 2,000 hectare Study Area.

• Centennial Coal must not be allowed to further replicate the damage it has already caused to nationally threatened upland swamps on the Newnes Plateau. Government should act to protect the biologically and geologically unique Newnes Plateau.

• To ensure this significant central part of the Gardens of Stone reserve proposal, mini-longwall mining methods should be applied instead of the intensive longwall mining proposed.

• The proposed excessive clearing of 50 hectares of public forest for additional roads, ventilation and pumping facilities must be reduced and all facilities located away from sensitive areas.

• Wolgan Falls must not be allowed to run dry due to this proposal draining off water in the river and its tributaries due to cracked sandstone caused by the proposal.

• The proposed longall mining panels must be shortened by hundreds of metres along the Wolgan River side of the Study Area to prevent river water losses due to the subsidence impacts associated with the extensive Wolgan Lineament Field.

• Pristine Carne Creek, and its waters that flow through the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and past the Wolgan Valley resort must not be contaminated with iron and manganese released by the proposal, or suffer reduced flows due to fracturing of surface rocks.

• In the seven years since Centennial’s consultants identified the need for targeted surveys of nationally endangered plants, the company in fact has failed to undertake these searches. Lithgow Environment Group has in that time identified many sites within the proposal where these Federally-listed plants occur, highlighting the weakness of the company’s environmental assessment.

Due to the extent of mining impacts and duration of approval being sought, the amended Angus Place mine extension proposal must be subject to an Independent Planning Commission hearing, review and determination process.

I have not made political donations or gifts totalling $1,000 or more in the last two years.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Haydn Washington
Environmental Scientist
2515 Nullo Mountain Rd
Nullo Mountain, NSW 2515

Centennial Coal and coal related companies generally in the Lithgow area have always had the support of government and Centennial has never had any mine expansion or "mod" ever rejected. Over a long period of time, since coal mining began around Lithgow, this has led to a sense of entitlement by coal companies, the local Council the local newspaper and some of the citizens.
Anyone expressing any opposition to business as usual by coal companies have been labelled as "extreme environmentalists".
For 20 years or more Centennial Coal has denied or cast doubt over any mining impacts to EPBC protected swamps on the Newnes Plateau. Even though they have wrecked the hydrology of every swamp that they have mined under, as evidenced by groundwater monitoring charts since 2010, Centennial have until now always cast doubt on the impacts of longwall mining and claimed that the effects were from "climatic conditions".
Now in the Extension Project application they finally admit to mining impacts to swamps, but still want to mine under swamps in the extension area and to offset any damage, which they admit may be total destruction.
I think the age of entitlement of coal mining companies should end and they should have to obey the law like everyone else.
The swamps are supposed to have Federal and State protection, so no one should be able to destroy them just because it is inconvenient or uneconomic for coal mining,
and make up for it by offering some form of compensation.
The swamps were formed after the last ice age, about 20000 years ago, and are destroyed forever once a mining longwall passes under them.
They are wrecked in a matter of days, as seen by the groundwater levels dropping as soon as they are undermined by longwall mining.
Centennial Coal has lied for many years about the mining impacts to the environment and has used the best environmental consultants "that money can buy".
Katie Brassell, the public spokesperson for Centennial, has denied any environmental mining impacts based on "forensic investigations" by consultants.
Based on the above, I do not want to see Centennial Coal rewarded with yet another area of coal reserves to be be mined "business as usual" with more environmental damage to endangered areas that are supposedly protected by the EPBC and TSC Acts which both Federal and State governments have failed to enforce purely because of economic reasons.
Planning approval decisions are supposed to be based on the three pillars of: economic, social and environmental.
Government should make approval decisions that are honest and legal and not skewed towards big companies who lie to protect their ongoing activities.
If Centennial Coal was honest and the Planning department properly enforced the law this extension project would be not approved in its current form.

I have attached photos showing the complete destruction of groundwater flows in Gang Gang Swamp on the Newnes Plateau caused by longwall coal mining by Centennial Coal. So sad, so unnecessary as Australia has so much coal. We should not mine under unique landscapes of irreplaceable value.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I object to this proposed project for two reasons.

The first is the impact that this project will have on the local community and environment. I worry about pollution (including air particulates, heavy metals in water) to the local area. Even if it were possible to entirely contain the pollution produced, this effort would need to be continued indefinitely. When Centennial Coal eventually closes the mine, will it continue to pay for the ongoing management and reparation works required to minimise local impacts? Centennial Coal cannot even guarantee that it will exist indefinitely into the future, let alone be able to pay for local damage minimisation procedures.

The second reason I object to this proposal is on the grounds of the damage that this mine extension will have on the climate change crisis. The world is phasing out the use of coal due to environmental and economic factors, chiefly climate change. The extension of this colliery is contributing to the ongoing supply of coal to global markets. This is not the time to be expanding coal mines, but to be expanding other sources of renewable energy. I am a young person and I fear that my life will be characterised by "too little too late", because projects like this proposed extension were completed, despite the realms of scientific evidence concluding that it is unsustainable.

Please do not allow this expansion to occur.

Sincerely,
Dylan Green

I support this projects for its benefits to the local town, Angus Place employees and contractors, NSW and Australia.

i feel the extension would be great for the lithgow community, to keep jobs in the town not only for the mine but for the future of the local powerstation.

I strongly support the project on the basis that it supports the long term security of employment, business and essential electricity generation services in the local region and the state of NSW.

The Lithgow District has had a hard time lately, with fires, job losses (Berli, Wallerawang Power Station, and Angus PLace), and has been suggested by some sectors as having to embrace the "service economy".

However, the service economy and tourism is currently in crisis as well with the COVID crisis.

The current situation underpins the lack of security for the region that comes with the service economy, and demonstrates the clear need for stable well paying jobs to underpin the local economy.

Mount Piper power station produces approximately 12% of the State's essential service of electricity generation, and has been hampered in this production due to the issues with the Springvale mine, which have seriously hampered electricity production, to the extent that an emergency supply from Airley has been installed to bolster Springvale.

Springvale itself has a life extending forward only 4 years, which is not sufficient to provide for the operational life of the Mount Piper Power Station.

The district needs these well paying jobs to continue into the future, and Angus Place Mine is essential to that need.