Mod 4 - Main West

I strongly object to this proposal on the grounds that there has been fraudulant & insufficient community consultation and that the company has no social licence to operate. I have observed the operations of the purported community consultative committee and believe it fails abysmally to adhere to the Ministerial Guidelines for operations of CCC and in its purported role to inform the community of Centennial activities. These concerns have been raised with CCC reps, Senior Planning officials within Community & Stakeholder Engagement and recently Minister Robyn Parker .Such concerns have also been reinforced in findings within the companies own included Social Impact Assessment. Since criticsm has been levelled at the CCC & company, the public gallery has been disbanded. Hardly condusive to community inclusion, particularly when there is such proposals afoot & already so much mistrust of Centennial prevelant. I sincerely question proper stakeholder engagement & also the independence & pecuniary interests of particular members of the current Newstan CCC. Centenial Coals track record for ability to operate within licence condition is appalling with an example being 2 recently recorded convictions for illegal discharges in this area alone. Newstan aditionally have had a multitude of non compliance issues in their annual environmental audits, a history of combining & downgrading complaints to enquiries. Correspondence sent to the CCC are selectively shared or ignored & withheld from the public record . I also question appropriate Aboriginal consultation and failure to acknowledge the importance of the nearby areas of significance, eg the Aboriginal site known as "Kurran Kurran". Finally I object on the grounds that no proper data has been undertaken to ensure that nearby residents will not have their health,real estate values, quality of environment, aquatic & marine impacts addressed. It is a common perception within the community that Centennial should clean up the mess they have already left (particularly in LT creek, )before any further approvals are considered or granted. Thankyou for the opportunity to place my submission.

I do not approve of any expansion of the Coal Industary anywhere within the state of New South Wales.

When are the councils and government going to wake up to the fact coal ISN'T the future, it is the past ~ please stop selling out the land & it's inhabitants. When all is said & done, we can't eat it or drink it - neither can we do that with money. Geothermal is THE WAY of the future, please stop allowing corporate industry to make the rules. We need fresh water, we need land to farm on that isn't poisened. We have the basic HUMAN RIGHTS to these, not to corporations and their money making machines.

I wish to object to the above proposal on the grounds that there has been insufficient attention given to a number of environmental and social impact issues.

I have particular concerns regarding dust and noise impacts associated with the proponent's use of the coal haulage routes surrounding the village of Awaba and believe these have not been adequately addressed.

Further investigation and assessment of threatened species impacts are also warranted as there appears to be a range of contradictory statements in documents concerning the population of Tetratheca juncea in particular in the area.

I note also that there is no investigation or discussion of future plans for use of the land in the documents provided by the proponent. Many members of the local community have worked very hard for many years in trying to activate plans for the Awaba Conservation Area, identified as a discrete site in local government publications. I think the proponent should be asked to make a commitment to working towards the achievement of the Awaba Conservation Area as a trade off for the continuation of mining activity. The proponent should be actively working to provide offsets to promote the conservation outcome desired by many people in the region.

Due to work commitments I am unable to provide further details at present but wish to make further detailed submissions as soon as I am in a position to do so in response to this project.

Re: Centennial Coal Newstan Colliery MOD 4- Main West DA 73-11-98
To Whom It May Concern:
I would like to state my opposition to the above development in its current form. The area that the above development covers is part of the proposed Awaba Nature Reserve, a reserve proposal that was first proposed in the 1970s. While I agree that long wall mining and conservation can occur together, I feel that the above development should be discussing planning mechanisms through which land transfer of the current vacant Crown Land can occur to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to become a State Conservation Area. In the Lower Hunter Regional Conservation Plan (2009) this area was shown to require increased protection, however steps toward this has not yet occurred.
Due to previous issues with long wall operations with Newstan mine including extensive surface cracking requiring repair through the removal of native vegetation along with damage to aquifer dependent streams, I feel that as a condition of approval of this modification, the Awaba Conservation Area must be gazetted. I have attached a copy of the conservation proposal that has recently been completed by local community members.
Yours Faithfully,
Chris McLean
B EnSc (hons) PhD candidate

See Attached

Dear Sir,

Please accept my submission on the application “DA 73-11-98 MOD 4” submitted by Centennial Coal – Newstan Colliery, the Main West Mining Project. There are a number of issues that have been brought to my attention that I wish to raise for consideration concerning the project.

They include:
1. In regards to consultation, as of this date (17.7.11) there is an alleged oversight, as there is no mention of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) or the Main West Project on the Centennial Coal Website. In regards to the general public of the West Lake Macquarie Community this limits the opportunity for gathering information and making informed decisions.
2. It discussed that Lord’s Creek is in the vicinity of the proposal (section 9) a map provided in appendix 7 (pg 8) verifies this. My concern is that two major tributaries feeding into Lord’s creek may be affected by the project and that the “precautionary principle” apply, as there are alluvium and other groundwater aquifers that may be affected. It is acknowledged in section 9 (pg 39) that there are two ecological communities that are ground water dependent:
a) Swamp mahogany-paperbark forest (Endangered Ecological Community ) and
b) Undefined riparian.
3. The area in question is while not obviously impacting existing habitat is within the Awaba Nature Reserve, which has been identified by Lake Macquarie City Council. The integrity of this land paramount for connectivity and applies to the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development and the “Precautionary Principle”.
4. In section 11.3, it is stated that Centennial is an Australian- owned company. It is my understanding that the company is now owned by a Thai company, Banpu.
5. It is discussed in the environmental assessment, section 11.4 – Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), that Newstan Colliery is committed the principles of ESD and that the “primary objective of the Project is to … allow coal production from proposed mining areas in an environmentally and socially responsible manner” (GSS:2011:75). It is also quoted on the same page “The principle of Conservation of Biological Diversity and Ecological Integrity holds that the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration for development proposals”.

In light of such acknowledgements and the State Government’s commitment to West Lake Macquarie with the State Environmental Planning Policy (Mining, Petroleum Production and Extractive Industries), I am surprised that no official offsets have been made.

As a part of this submission, I request that offsets be formally made and Land within the Awaba Nature Reserve (which is leased crown land by Centennial) be gazetted and transferred to National Parks.

Yours sincerely

Robyn Charlton

Dear Sir,

Please accept my submission on the application “DA 73-11-98 MOD 4” submitted by Centennial Coal – Newstan Colliery, the Main West Mining Project. There are a number of issues that have been brought to my attention that I wish to raise for consideration concerning the project.

They include:
1. In regards to consultation, as of this date (17.7.11) there is an alleged oversight, as there is no mention of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) or the Main West Project on the Centennial Coal Website. In regards to the general public of the West Lake Macquarie Community this limits the opportunity for gathering information and making informed decisions.
2. It discussed that Lord’s Creek is in the vicinity of the proposal (section 9) a map provided in appendix 7 (pg 8) verifies this. My concern is that two major tributaries feeding into Lord’s creek may be affected by the project and that the “precautionary principle” apply, as there are alluvium and other groundwater aquifers that may be affected. It is acknowledged in section 9 (pg 39) that there are two ecological communities that are ground water dependent:
a) Swamp mahogany-paperbark forest (Endangered Ecological Community ) and
b) Undefined riparian.
3. The area in question is while not obviously impacting existing habitat is within the Awaba Nature Reserve, which has been identified by Lake Macquarie City Council. The integrity of this land paramount for connectivity and applies to the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development and the “Precautionary Principle”.
4. In section 11.3, it is stated that Centennial is an Australian- owned company. It is my understanding that the company is now owned by a Thai company, Banpu.
5. It is discussed in the environmental assessment, section 11.4 – Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), that Newstan Colliery is committed the principles of ESD and that the “primary objective of the Project is to … allow coal production from proposed mining areas in an environmentally and socially responsible manner” (GSS:2011:75). It is also quoted on the same page “The principle of Conservation of Biological Diversity and Ecological Integrity holds that the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration for development proposals”.

In light of such acknowledgements and the State Government’s commitment to West Lake Macquarie with the State Environmental Planning Policy (Mining, Petroleum Production and Extractive Industries), I am surprised that no official offsets have been made.

As a part of this submission, I request that offsets be formally made and Land within the Awaba Nature Reserve (which is leased crown land by Centennial) be gazetted and transferred to National Parks.

Yours sincerely

Robyn Charlton

Dear Sir,

Please accept my submission on the application “DA 73-11-98 MOD 4” submitted by Centennial Coal – Newstan Colliery, the Main West Mining Project. There are a number of issues that have been brought to my attention that I wish to raise for consideration concerning the project.

They include:
1. In regards to consultation, as of this date (17.7.11) there is an alleged oversight, as there is no mention of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) or the Main West Project on the Centennial Coal Website. In regards to the general public of the West Lake Macquarie Community this limits the opportunity for gathering information and making informed decisions.
2. It discussed that Lord’s Creek is in the vicinity of the proposal (section 9) a map provided in appendix 7 (pg 8) verifies this. My concern is that two major tributaries feeding into Lord’s creek may be affected by the project and that the “precautionary principle” apply, as there are alluvium and other groundwater aquifers that may be affected. It is acknowledged in section 9 (pg 39) that there are two ecological communities that are ground water dependent:
a) Swamp mahogany-paperbark forest (Endangered Ecological Community ) and
b) Undefined riparian.
3. The area in question is while not obviously impacting existing habitat is within the Awaba Nature Reserve, which has been identified by Lake Macquarie City Council. The integrity of this land paramount for connectivity and applies to the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development and the “Precautionary Principle”.
4. In section 11.3, it is stated that Centennial is an Australian- owned company. It is my understanding that the company is now owned by a Thai company, Banpu.
5. It is discussed in the environmental assessment, section 11.4 – Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), that Newstan Colliery is committed the principles of ESD and that the “primary objective of the Project is to … allow coal production from proposed mining areas in an environmentally and socially responsible manner” (GSS:2011:75). It is also quoted on the same page “The principle of Conservation of Biological Diversity and Ecological Integrity holds that the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration for development proposals”.

In light of such acknowledgements and the State Government’s commitment to West Lake Macquarie with the State Environmental Planning Policy (Mining, Petroleum Production and Extractive Industries), I am surprised that no official offsets have been made.

As a part of this submission, I request that offsets be formally made and Land within the Awaba Nature Reserve (which is leased crown land by Centennial) be gazetted and transferred to National Parks.

Yours sincerely

Robyn Charlton

Dear Sir,

Please accept my submission on the application “DA 73-11-98 MOD 4” submitted by Centennial Coal – Newstan Colliery, the Main West Mining Project. There are a number of issues that have been brought to my attention that I wish to raise for consideration concerning the project.

They include:
1. In regards to consultation, as of this date (17.7.11) there is an alleged oversight, as there is no mention of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) or the Main West Project on the Centennial Coal Website. In regards to the general public of the West Lake Macquarie Community this limits the opportunity for gathering information and making informed decisions.
2. It discussed that Lord’s Creek is in the vicinity of the proposal (section 9) a map provided in appendix 7 (pg 8) verifies this. My concern is that two major tributaries feeding into Lord’s creek may be affected by the project and that the “precautionary principle” apply, as there are alluvium and other groundwater aquifers that may be affected. It is acknowledged in section 9 (pg 39) that there are two ecological communities that are ground water dependent:
a) Swamp mahogany-paperbark forest (Endangered Ecological Community ) and
b) Undefined riparian.
3. The area in question is while not obviously impacting existing habitat is within the Awaba Nature Reserve, which has been identified by Lake Macquarie City Council. The integrity of this land paramount for connectivity and applies to the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development and the “Precautionary Principle”.
4. In section 11.3, it is stated that Centennial is an Australian- owned company. It is my understanding that the company is now owned by a Thai company, Banpu.
5. It is discussed in the environmental assessment, section 11.4 – Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), that Newstan Colliery is committed the principles of ESD and that the “primary objective of the Project is to … allow coal production from proposed mining areas in an environmentally and socially responsible manner” (GSS:2011:75). It is also quoted on the same page “The principle of Conservation of Biological Diversity and Ecological Integrity holds that the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration for development proposals”.

In light of such acknowledgements and the State Government’s commitment to West Lake Macquarie with the State Environmental Planning Policy (Mining, Petroleum Production and Extractive Industries), I am surprised that no official offsets have been made.

As a part of this submission, I request that offsets be formally made and Land within the Awaba Nature Reserve (which is leased crown land by Centennial) be gazetted and transferred to National Parks.

Yours sincerely

Robyn Charlton