Dendrobium Mine Extension Project

I think this proposal should be rejected, as the previous proposal was. The changes made to the proposal do not sufficiently mitigate the impacts.
The extension within Mining Area 5 would carry risks to upland swamps, lead to substantial changes to surface water and ground water within the catchment special area, and generate a pile of coal wash to manage. Based on the projections from Bluescope and forecasts from this mine and other mines, I feel considering the precautionary principle it would be more prudent to wait and see on this mine. This would allow for more studies on the impacts of the existing mine works here and of the recently expanded operations at the Metropolitan mine to inform a best practice approach to this mining extension if it needs to proceed at all. Perhaps longwall mining isn't the best method to employ in this area, the designed collapse of the goaves seems like risky business.

I strongly oppose this application for the expansion of the Dendrobium mine for several reasons, the key of which are as follows:

1. The expansion is unnecessary in a market that is rejecting coal. Renewable energy will soon far surpass the economics of coal fired energy. Indeed the Blue Scope Steelworks have just been granted significant funding to transition to renewables. There is no need to an expansion of the timeframe the mine will operate as based on it current timeframe for operation, it won’t have customers well before it’s expiry.

2. We are in a climate crisis. We must accelerate our transition away from coal. Given the above point regarding the market, there is no sense in supporting project that are uneconomic and that will actively jeopardise our ability to avoid climate catastrophe.

3. Our drinking water is precious. Just 3 years ago we were running out of water in Sydney. The risk of this mine causing increase water loss in Sydney’s water catchment is irreversible. It beggars belief that we would risk our ability to source water for a needless project like this.

4. The environment generally. The proposed mining area is a habitat for many endangered species and an asset to NSW. We must protect it. Once it’s gone, there no going back whereas in 30 years no one will be saying, ah I wish we had more coal.

5. Jobs. The economic opportunity of this expansion is pathetic compared to the return in investment from transitioning the users of its coal to renewables. The taxpayer should not be propping up these failing industries. The companies that run these mines should see the writing on the wall, and transition into longer term industries for the sake of their employees and shareholders.

These points illustrate why this expansion should not and can not be accepted. I strongly urge decision makers to reject this proposal.

I object to the expansion for the following reasons. Please see attachment for details and references.

The rationale for State Significant Infrastructure Status is flawed
Damage to Sydney and Wollongong’s drinking water catchment
The expansion is not consistent with current land use of the area as a water catchment
The risk of pollution events in the catchment is real, and is not adequately addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement.
Water quality
Damage to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
Impact on koalas and their habitat
Impact on Aquatic ecosystems
Impact on Upland Swamps
Bushfire risk
Impact on sustainable jobs
Impact of coal wash, mine outflow and brine dumping on creeks, waterways, harbours and oceans
Risk of damage from Phytophthora cinnamomi 
Climate impacts

Following is my response to the Dendrobium Mine Extension Project Application No SSI-33143123 located in Kembla Heights in the Wollongong local government area. A previous application for this site (SSD-8194) was already refused by the Independent Planning Commission on already established valid grounds- millions of litres of water will be lost, heavy metal discharge contamination, Government agencies outside planning concerned, damage to Water NSW infrastructure, water quality reduced, damage to upland swamps, damage to the environment, impacts to threatened species, bushfire risk, damage to Aboriginal Heritage and increased greenhouse gas emissions fuelling more climate change. Due to the high risks of damage this application has already been determined as a ‘controlled action’ by the Federal Minister for Environment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
This reckless proposal submitted again by Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd is wrong and must be rejected again.
Please refer to attached document for the full submission.
Thank you
Martin Derby

Following is my response to the Dendrobium Mine Extension Project Application No SSI-33143123 located in Kembla Heights in the Wollongong local government area. A previous application for this site (SSD-8194) was already refused by the Independent Planning Commission on already established valid grounds- millions of litres of water will be lost, heavy metal discharge contamination, Government agencies outside planning concerned, damage to Water NSW infrastructure, water quality reduced, damage to upland swamps, damage to the environment, impacts to threatened species, bushfire risk, damage to Aboriginal Heritage and increased greenhouse gas emissions fuelling more climate change. Due to the high risks of damage this application has already been determined as a ‘controlled action’ by the Federal Minister for Environment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
This reckless proposal submitted again by Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd is wrong and must be rejected again.
Please refer to attached document for the full submission.
Thank you
Janice Haviland

I am writing to express my objection to the proposed expansion of Dendrobium Mine in Sydney and Wollongong’s water catchment. I am concerned about damage to Sydney and Wollongong’s drinking water catchment, water quality, Damage to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, impact on koalas and their habitat, impact on Aquatic ecosystems, impact on Upland Swamps, bushfire risk, impact on sustainable jobs and impact of coal wash, mine outflow and brine dumping on creeks, waterways, harbours and oceans.

This is a publicly owned water catchment. The proposed mining is in the protected Special Areas of the water catchment upon which 5 million people rely for drinking water. There should be no mining in the Special Areas of Greater Sydney Water Catchment; this is the stated position of WaterNSW and the legislated purpose of Special Area protection. I also note that it has already been rejected by the Independent Planning Commission and NSW Water.

The rationale for declaring the expansion of Dendrobium Mine in Sydney and Wollongong’s water catchment as State Significant Infrastructure is also flawed. Bluescope Steel had already made provision for purchasing and transporting coal from other mines, and has also secured considerable Federal and NSW Government funds to investigate transition to low- or zero-carbon steel production. Also sustainable industries such as renewable hydrogen production, renewable energy, recycling of rare earths from e-waste, conventional recycling, and low or zero carbon steel production will also support thousands of jobs, with considerable research indicating that sustainable industries will actually deliver more jobs directly and indirectly, when compared to the fossil fuel industry.

I was born in Wollongong and have lived locally to the area for most of my life. I grew up bushwalking and fell in love with the natural beauty of the region, which I think is one of the greatest appeals to live here. Having studied Environmental Science at UoW, undertaken research a year of research in headwater/upland swamp in environments, and worked as an Environmental Field Officer for three years throughout the Catchment (Nepean, Avon, Cordeaux Dam catchment) and Dendrobium Mine area, I started to realise just how special and unique some of the local environments are. Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone (THPSS) are rare environments and unique to very few parts or the NSW South Coast - and many have been mapped through the Catchment. Not only do they host a unique diversity of flora and fauna, but these THPSS are critical for flood mitigation, which will become an increasingly important factor as we head into a future of a more variable climate with worsening droughts. THPSS absorb water - with their high peat content acting like a sponge - and slowly release this water which can act as a primary source for many natural streams during periods of low rainfall. Longwall mining in the Catchment area has directly impacted these environments through subsidence and bedrock cracking, essentially draining them from underneath and removing their ability to support life and release fresh water downstream.
Furthermore, during me time as an Environmental Field Officer, I witnessed the harsh affects of longwall mining on waterway health. Wongawilli Creek had a predictable hydrograph (through measuring water level, we could see that after periods of heavy rain water stayed in the creek for a while with pools never fully draining) and many deep, clear and permanent pools. After Wongawilli Creek was undermined around 2018 there was a noticeable difference in the hydrograph and permanent pools were none dry. This was due to bedrock fracturing caused as a direct result from longwall mining subsidence.
Endangering these critical environments when we already have a vast array of other climatic and ecological threats coming our way in the future, is madness. Bedrock fracturing can destroy freshwater environments like our creeks and THPSS forever, and we can't afford to loose them due to their extremely important benefits to our local streams and drinking water. I strongly oppose the extension of Dendrobium Mine. We need to keep this region beautiful, think about the long-term sustainability of the area, and respect and look after the natural environment so that we can give ourselves a better chance as we head into an unstable climate.

I object to this proposal because it presents real risks to
1. the natural environment above the mine due to drying caused by drainage into the mine.

2.the critical water catchment infrastructure due to uncontrollable subsidence of the ground below them caused by the long wall mining operations. The proposed separation distance between mining operations and sites requiring of 100m, demonstrates that this is just a ‘looks good’ number that has no firm basis for this site. The water supply infrastructure should last over a hundred years, what evidence do the proponents have that their subsidence won’t have extended more than 100m in that time?

This uncertainty also applies to other sites they have said should be protected.

No system is proposed to enable relevant Gov. departments to monitor the mining to ensure that these 100m separations are actually implemented. And when a section is mined, it then becomes too dangerous to inspect! So we would rely on their word that they have done the right thing.

There is no proposal for a bond to try and ensure they remediate the site.

3. Diffuse emissions from the mining operations will be uncontrolled and be a liability for the Australian community as we try to achieve net zero carbon emissions.

4. Their claim that the Bluescope steelworks, with its large workforce relies on Dendrobium coal is suspect without a clear statement from Bluescope. Rather, it highlights how few jobs are really being provided by this proposal.

The damage this mine will cause to the water catchment area, which is a sensitive natural environment is entirely unacceptable. The track record this company has with water management is extremely poor. We cannot allow this project to risk the water catchment area and water security for Wollongong and surrounding areas.

Further the potential damage to indigenous artefacts and cultural sites located in this area is another reason this project should not be given approval. We cannot afford to risk these cultural heritage sites and lose more of our indigenous history.

Mining in water catchment areas is an unacceptable risk for water quality. If these areas are too sensitive to allow people to walk through them / how is it even a consideration to allow mining!
I say no to all mining in water catchments!

My name is Denise Farrier and I have lived in Wollongong for 27 years. I cherish this area for its natural beauty and its strong community but I worry for its future given our current climate. I am writing this submission because I cannot fathom why the Minister or the NSW Government would want to expand the Dendrobium Mine underneath the Sydney Water Catchment at this time. By this current climate, I mean that for the past three years the Eastern States of Australia have undergone widespread and catastrophic effects of climate change in the form of mega-fires of 2019-20 and the recent unprecedented flooding in NSW. Therefore, the news of this proposed mine expansion is devastating to me for the following reasons.

Why would the Minister want to expand the Dendrobium Mine to at least 2041 at a time when we are being warned that we need to rapidly reduce our fossil fuel emissions given the recent IPPC Reports that state that we really must transition away from fossil fuels urgently? And why are we increasing coal mining given the predictions of an accelerated closure of an uncompetitive coal-fired power industry? The argument that this coal is needed for Port Kembla Steelworks appears to be flawed given that Bluescope Steel had already bought and transported coal from other mines and that both the Federal and NSW Governments are providing funds to it to investigate a transition to low and/or zero-carbon steel production.

The most worrying thing for me about this proposal is the very real threat this mine poses to our water catchment. Is the Minister aware of any other large city in the world that would risk the populations’ drinking water by allowing mining on this scale under its water catchment?

Why should we would risk the safety of our drinking water for the sake of a privately-owned mine? Given that there is already ample evidence that mining under the water catchment has caused cracking and dewatering of watercourses, swamps and aquifers and has led to the loss of millions of litres of water loss a day, why doesn’t the Minister not see this proposal as a threat to our drinking water? In addition, to massive water loss through this form of mining, water entering and then leaving the mine becomes contaminated with heavy metals, destroying the quality of precious drinking water. What happens when the next drought comes, as it certainly will? And how will offsets, in the form of monetary payments prevent this potential disaster from happening?

If it is not bad enough that the mine poses such a threat to our water, it also poses a massive fire risk. Damage and degradation of the ecosystems in the Catchment Area will undoubtedly lead to an increased fire risk. The bushfire management plans for the mine does not appear to address problems of fire risk from the practice of ‘flaring’ of gas emissions from the mine. Nor does it say which methods might be used for fuel reduction. In this scenario, might fuel reduction fires themselves become a bushfire risk? Or may fuel reduction practices lead to unmonitored clearing of the habitat and ecosystems that enable our Water Catchment to exist? In our current climate, additional bushfire risk in our area at this time is unconscionable.

In terms of habitat loss, it appears that there has been no proper survey of koala populations within the mining area. Will this be done, given that koala populations have recently been declared ‘endangered’ by the Government?

The cultural heritage of our Aboriginal people is also at risk from this mining proposal. While there is a requirement for monitoring of Indigenous cultural sites, why are there no requirements on the mining company to preserve or avoid these sites and no penalties if South32 destroys any of them? That seems a bit superficial to me.

Finally, given that the Independent Planning Commission rejected a further expansion of this mine, stating its main reason for its decision was the threat to the drinking water in the Catchment, why would the Minister think it now necessary to declare this mine as State Significant Infrastructure? Has this ever been done before? In what way is it necessary?

I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully,
Denise Farrier

This submission opposes the revised plan for the extension of the Dendrobium Mine in the Illawarra on the following grounds.
Overall, any extension of the mine will damage the watercourses and swamps that feed our drinking water reservoirs causing the loss of millions of litres of water, damage WaterNSW infrastructure and negatively affect water quality. Bushfire risk will increase as will the destruction of native fauna habitat, especially that of a vulnerable koala population. There will be a legacy of water loss and contamination for future generations as well as further damage to valuable Aboriginal cultural heritage. Frustratingly it will lock in 26 years of greenhouse gas emissions, instead of promoting decarbonisation.

Both Water NSW and the IPC opposed the original extension on the grounds of its environmental effects and water loss. Both these independent, expert organisations should be given oversight of this new proposal which will still affect the environment, water quality and quantity deleteriously. There is already drying up of upland swamps on Maddens Plains and the escarpment. Research over five years by UNSW shows that swampland near longwall mines is drying out and many species of fauna and flora are negatively affected. The original proposal would have affected 46 swamps irreversibly. This proposal, while less destructive, will still have huge negative effects. Listen to the experts not those wishing to profit from the permanent destruction of our precious environment.
Bushfire risk will increase with the loss of groundwater and further drying out of the local area threatening the lives of not only the human population but also the animal population. The local koala population, the first identified by Europeans in Australia, and one of the last remaining substantial and disease-free colonies in the country will be in danger of disappearing as their habitat is destroyed. The superficial assessment by the company on the effects on this population failed to properly count their number or estimate the effects of mining on their habitat. They have an interest in ignoring expert opinion that suggests there will be a decline in koala numbers due to this extension of mining.
There has already been substantial damage to the Illawarra’s Aboriginal cultural heritage due to existing mining activities, including the collapse of caves with significant rock art. This will be exacerbated by an extension of Dendrobium mine.
The arguments in favour of the extension of the Dendrobium mine include the claim that BlueScope Steel depends on it. The IPC reported, “The commission does not accept the suggested dependence of BlueScope Steelworks on ongoing access to the Wongawilli Seam coal from this Project.”
Water NSW notes that the company does not have to comply with the requirements of the Environmental Planning Instruments (EPIs) that would have applied to the project had it not otherwise been declared as SSI. This is insane. WATERNSW is the expert organisation. This SSI is endangering our water quantity, in the driest continent in the world, as well as damaging the environment through subsidence, loss of faunal habitat, and sites of indigenous cultural significance.
Water NSW also notes that the company has not addressed the possible problems associated with the revised plan writing, “The SDWC SEPP is recognized in Appendix E but only in relation to the neutral or beneficial effect.”
It is now known that the NSW Dept. of Planning suggested that the company highlight its supply of coal to BlueScope. According to independent MLC Justin Field this was not ethical and crossed the line. Dan Gocher, director of Climate and Environment at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, said in December re the declaration of state significant infrastructure: “This decision reeks of state capture. South32 and the NSW Minerals Council lobbied the NSW government for months to overturn the rejection of the Dendrobium expansion.” One must ask why we have a government working against community interests in the short and long term in favour of the interests of an international mining company?
The extension of the Dendrobium mine is not justified, and its effects on water supply, quality and infrastructure, as well as the environment and flora and fauna will be devastating. Once again we will be leaving a legacy of increased pollution, environmental destruction, and loss of cultural and biological resources for future generations for the benefit of a corporation that has already shown itself to be delinquent in its concern for any of these issues. This extension must not go ahead.

The mining corporation Illawarra Coal Holdings revised proposal for the expansion of Dendrobium Mine in Sydney and Wollongong’s water catchment proposes 19 years of destructive longwall mining in the water catchment for Wollongong, Macarthur and Sydney.

The proposal seeks approval to continue use of the mine and infrastructure until 2041, and to expand longwall mining into Area 5, extracting up to 5.2 million tonnes of Run of Mine (ROM) coal each year until 2035.

This is despite an array of long term detrimental issues it will cause.

Why are the profits of a private company being prioritised over the drinking water supply of people living in Sydney and Wollongong?

The impact of this mine expansion will compromise both quantity and quality of water in the catchment.

Mining will damage the watercourses and swamps that feed our drinking water reservoirs that 5 million people rely for drinking water.

Our drinking water catchment is essential infrastructure, and should be prioritised over a privately-owned coal mine. 

Why the profits of a private company should be prioritised over the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people is truly baffling. 

South32 will be allowed to disrespect and destroy Aboriginal Cultural Heritage with no penalties whilst the area remains out-of-bounds for the Aboriginal community. We need to work towards preserving, respecting and learning from not destroying a 60 million year old culture.

The impact of this mine expansion will not be neutral or positive, and no offsets or amount of money is will undo the damage it will cause.

This project cannot be considered viable. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states "coal use in OECD nations should end completely by 2030. Coal production should have peaked in 2020." The International Energy Agency states "beyond projects already committed as of 2021, ...no new coal mines or mine extensions are required ". These statements must be taken with the utmost seriousness, the future of life on planet Earth is at stake. The immediate short term effects if this project is approved include : Drinking water loss from reservoirs of up to 171 megalitres per year. A total loss of almost 8000 megalitres per year from reservoirs, groundwater and surface water sources. Surface subsidence and cracking that cannot be repaired, causing permanent loss of water, and also damage to indigenous cultural sites. Koala habitat would also be negatively affected. The proposed project would be a massive fugitive emissions source, in direct contradiction of a 2021 NSW Treasury statement that meaningful action to reduce emissions must be taken. The supply of coal from the project to Bluescope Steel is not essential as alternative energy sources for steel production are being developed. Employment in the mining sector in the Wollongong Local Government Area copmrises only 1.5% of the workforce, alternative jobs are available.
This project cannot be approved.

I wish to express my concern regarding the mining corporation Illawarra Coal Holdings (South 32) and their revised proposal for the expansion of Dendrobium Mine in Sydney and Wollongong’s water catchment.
Our water security is vital, it's non- negotiable. We need water to survive. Mining in water catchments is not safe, it is wrong.
Sydney is the only city in the world that allows longwall mining in a publicly owned water catchment. The proposed mining is in the protected Special Areas of the water catchment upon which 5 million people rely for drinking water. There should be no mining in the Special Areas of Greater Sydney Water Catchment; this is the stated position of WaterNSW and the legislated purpose of Special Area protection.

The expansion is not consistent with current land use of the area as a water catchment
The impact of this mine expansion will not be neutral or positive, it will leave the water catchment worse off in terms of both quantity and quality of water. Offsets in the form of the payment of money cannot replace a drinking water catchment. No matter how much water is recycled, or how many desalination plants we build before the next drought, our drinking water catchment is essential infrastructure, and should be prioritised over a privately-owned coal mine.
The cracking and dewatering of watercourses, swamps and aquifers is expected to add the loss of many more millions of litres of water each day to the 10 million litres daily water loss from Dendrobium’s current and past mining. WaterNSW has been clear that mining in the Special Areas causes loss of yield to the reservoirs and the swamps and water courses that charge them.

This mine expansion impacts on the ability of the water catchment to collect, clean, and store water and negatively impacts on the sustainability and resilience of the supply of drinking water for Sydney and Wollongong, in terms of both water quality and quantity. Water that enters and then flows out of mines picks up contaminants along the way. Current measures for managing this problem have been shown to be insufficient to prevent impacts on waterways.
The risk of pollution events in the catchment is real, and is not adequately addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement.

The priority for survival on this planet is mitigating climate risk.
As the Project is proposing to extract from Area 5 which has “a higher gas concentration”, the Extension project would more than triple current direct (Scope 1) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In total, the Dendrobium Extension Project would result in ~88 million tonnes CO2-e of GHGs. This is equivalent to the emissions of ~280,000 average Australian households over 18 years. The Extension would add between 12.2 – 15.5 million tonnes of CO2-e of direct Scope 1 and 2 GHGs to the NSW GHG inventory over the life of the Project.
These emissions will primarily be fugitive methane emissions, which must be urgently reduced. The International Energy Agency – in their Net Zero by 2050 report – has called for the “elimination of all technically avoidable methane emissions by 2030”.
Despite comprising a significant chunk of NSW’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, there is no effective regulation to drive down direct and indirect (Scope 1 and 2) emissions from coal mining.

Other major issues of concern include:

Damage to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
There are 31 Aboriginal Heritage sites in and close to Area 5, with 6 of these sites directly over longwalls. Sites named in the Environmental Impact Statement include: 13 axe grinding grooves, 8 shelters with art, 2 shelters with deposits, 1 shelter with art and deposits, 6 shelters with art and potential archaeological deposits and 1 isolated find.
South 32 provide no evidence or explanation as to why the profits of a private company should be prioritised over the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people. Monitoring of Indigenous cultural sites is required but there is no requirement to preserve or avoid these sites, and no penalties to South32 when it destroys them. It is reprehensible for mining interests to desecrate Aboriginal Cultural Heritage whilst the area remains out-of-bounds for the Aboriginal community.

Impact on koalas and their habitat
Koalas have recently been declared Endangered in NSW. The Environmental Impact Statement notes that there are koalas living in the area that will be undermined, but includes no current survey of koala numbers or locations. There is no management plan for koalas who may be living in the ecosystems that would be cleared for infrastructure, other than offsetting that includes a bio-banking scheme that has not yet been negotiated, and payment to a government trust. It is hard to see how these future arrangements will prevent a devastating impact on actual, living koalas who may be present in land to be cleared for infrastructure.
Impact of coal wash, mine outflow and brine dumping on creeks, waterways, harbours and oceans. Of particular concern is the impact on Upland Swamps.
The upland swamps of the Woronora Plateau play an important role in the water catchment by capturing and holding water, filtering it and in times of drought releasing it slowly into the creeks and rivers that feed into the reservoirs. These swamps are classified as Endangered Ecological Communities (EEC) and are significant in terms of their biodiversity.

Bushfire risk
Dewatering of the ecosystems of the catchment increases bushfire risk. The water catchment was one of the few unburnt areas of bushland in the 2020 fires and it needs to be protected from mining induced degradation. It is also close to the highly populated residential areas of Wollongong.
Finally……………..

Impact on sustainable jobs
It is claimed that the project will maintain the existing workforce of 650, plus an additional 50 workers, with 100 additional temporary workers during the construction phase. It is understood that even the non-construction workforce will not have ‘jobs for life’, but jobs until the end of the lease in 2041, or, more likely, until the mine closes because it is uneconomic to operate.
The question for those weighing up how to best ensure employment opportunities now and in the future is whether to continue to risk an essential resource, water, for the sake of a few more years of an industry that is already struggling to find markets for its products, and is putting workers onto short term contracts in order to reduce future liabilities when the mine closes, or whether to prioritise the transition to industries that will inevitably grow as support for the fossil fuel industry rapidly becomes economically unviable and socially untenable.

Dear Minister Roberts,

I object very strongly to this Project SSI-33143123.

If it proceeds, then it will have devastating impacts on:
- Our climate system. We just cannot afford this project. The IPCC in 2019, concluded that “Coal use in OECD nations should cease completely by 2030. Coal production should have peaked in 2020” to limit global heating to 1.5oC. [IPCC (2019) as cited in Climate Analystics (2019) Global and regional coal phase-out requirements of the Paris Agreement: Insights from the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C. 23 September 2019] Instead this Project proposes continued coal extraction in Area 5 from 2027 to 2034, (with already approved extraction from Area 3 to continue after 2034).
- Dharawal Peoples Cultural Heritage
- Water systems (both surface water and ground water systems) in the Metropolitan Special Area of the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment
- Plants, animals, and ecosystems within the Metropolitan Special Area. These include endangered threatened coastal upland swamps and koalas. The Metropolitcan Special Area is a legislated Special Area, precisely because it has such high water, water infrastructure and biodiversity/ecological values, and this Project would literally bust up the landscape and greatly diminish these values.
I object for these reasons!

Moreover I am very angry about the process by which this Project has been granted state significant infrastructure status. That is an assault on good governance and contrary to the interests of NSW residents as a whole. I am someone who engaged in the IPC-led process for determining SSD-8194 (the earlier Dendrobium Coal Mine Extension project) and who objected. I am now a member of Protect Our Water Catchment Incorporated (POWC Inc), a group who is defending the IPC’s refusal of SSD-8194 in the NSW Land and Environment Court, at the same time that we are now having to contend with this new project which was granted State Significant Infrastructure status precisely to sideline the IPC. I am angry that our planning system seems set up and run for the benefit of corporations rather than for benefit of all NSW residents.

This is a coal mine expansion proposal which would contribute FURTHER DAMAGES to the Metropolitan Special Area wrought by South32’s Dendrobium Coal Mine since 2001. And this is a climate eemrgency. We cannot delay taking actions to address the dire situation we are in. We need to protect WATER and OUR CLIMATE and get out of coal as fast as we can – now!

I OBJECT to this project completely. As a member of POWC Inc, I endorse the much longer objecting submission that our group is making. I also express my appreciation to the Environmental Defenders Office who are supporting POWC Inc in our legal case defending the IPC SSD-8194 refusal decision and who have engaged experts to provide their submissions related to this SSD-33143123 project.

Thank you for considering my submission.

Deidre Stuart

Dear committee,

The Dendrobium Mine extension project will undermine major key ecosystems and expose them to dangerous conditions through major disturbances in geology. Long Wall Mining causes massive ground stresses to occur, leading to surface level changes that create cracking, sagging and leakage. This will decimate wildlife populations of frogs and insects, wreaking havoc on our native species. Upland swamps will no longer exist due to subsidence, and water loss from aquifers and rivulets will be enormous. This project cannot go ahead. It is undoing our legacy of natural heritage, and desicrating sacred Indigenous land. Coal mining is becoming unprofitable in a modern economy, energy and infrastructure is trending towards a greener future relying on hydrogen and renewables. Bluescope Steel corp is transitioning away from metallurgical coal, nullifying the existence of coal mines in the area.

We will regret the environmental devastation already caused, lets not regret further recklessness. Thank you.

Student Scientist at University of Wollongong

Hello, I write to object to the expansion of the dendrobium mine expansion. Having worked as an Ecologist on the land that has been mined under, it was horrifying to see sandstone river beds cleanly cracked in half with water disappearing and reappearing400 metres downstream orange with iron floc. I was saddened to see arms of the catchment where water levels have dropped, with only chalky white stains showing where the water level once was. I undertook floristic surveys of upland swamps and was scared reading previous reports and seeing the beginning of a trend of drying out if these fragile ecosystems. I was disgusted to find aboriginal art sites in caves with weather stations drilled into the very top of the cave.

I was born and raised in the Northern Illawarra, exploring all of the bush except the water catchment. Getting to work in there was a dream come true. It quickly became nightmare, seeing fresh water crayfish barely able to move they are so covered in iron floc. This private mine has no right to expand under PUBLIC land, it makes me sad for future children in the Illawarra that will have to deal with the fall out of a changing climate and a compromised water source and know that it could have been avoided.
I implore you to please reject this proposal. To honour the current labour governments commitment to take climate change seriously, and to not risk such a fragile and precious landscape with the most valuable resource of them all - WATER!

This project should not go ahead because it will destroy the local waterways in which we rely on.

Significant and unacceptable risk to future water availability for Wollongong area particularly during next El Nino Cycle