Modification 6 - underground mining extension

This objection is based on unresolved impacts to groundwater, surface water connectivity, headwater catchments, and subterranean water systems, and on the failure of the proposal to recognise or protect First Nations rights, laws, and responsibilities in relation to water.

1. Failure to recognise First Nations water rights and obligations

The proposal treats water as a resource to be intercepted, stored, discharged, or reused. This framing is fundamentally inconsistent with First Nations water law, which understands water as a living system with relational, cultural, ecological, and spiritual dimensions.

Despite operating on Country with deep cultural and hydrological significance, the proposal does not demonstrate:

Recognition of First Nations peoples as water custodians

Engagement with First Nations knowledge of groundwater, springs, and deep water systems

Protection of cultural flows or cultural water values

First Nations peoples in NSW continue to be structurally excluded from meaningful water ownership and decision-making. This project compounds that injustice by extending underground mining without addressing how further groundwater interference affects cultural, spiritual, and intergenerational relationships with water.

2. Subterranean and deep groundwater systems are living systems

Underground coal mining interferes with deep groundwater systems that are not isolated or inert. These deep waters are connected through fractures, faults, and slow-moving aquifers that sustain surface waters, ecosystems, and culturally significant places over long timescales.

Longwall mining and subsidence risk:

Permanent disruption of deep groundwater pathways

Loss of slow-recharging water systems relied upon in drought

Damage to underground water bodies that cannot be remediated once fractured

The proposal does not demonstrate an understanding of deep groundwater as a living, connected system, nor does it assess long-term impacts beyond the operational life of the mine.

3. Headwaters impacts are cultural as well as hydrological

The mine is located at the headwaters of the Goulburn and Talbragar River catchments. For First Nations peoples, headwaters are places of origin, responsibility, and law.

Impacts at headwaters are not localised. They:

Affect downstream Country and communities

Disrupt cultural responsibilities to care for water across connected landscapes

Create intergenerational harm that extends well beyond mine closure

No evidence is provided that these cultural dimensions of headwater protection have been assessed or respected.

4. Cumulative and intergenerational impacts are ignored

This modification extends impacts to water systems already affected by decades of mining. The cumulative effects of:

Repeated longwall panels

Progressive subsidence

Ongoing groundwater interception

Climate-exacerbated drought risk

have not been assessed through a First Nations lens or an intergenerational timeframe.

A two-year operational extension can produce irreversible impacts to water systems that persist for generations.

5. Precaution, justice, and public interest

Water is not a private asset. It is a shared, living system held in trust for current and future generations.

Where there is uncertainty about harm to groundwater, headwaters, and cultural water systems, the precautionary principle must apply — particularly where First Nations peoples bear disproportionate and lasting impacts.

Request

I respectfully request that the consent authority:

Refuse Modification 6, or

At a minimum, require:

A contemporary Aquifer Interference Impact Assessment

Assessment of impacts on deep and slow-recharging groundwater systems

Genuine engagement with First Nations water knowledge holders

Explicit consideration of cultural water values and intergenerational impacts

Full public exhibition of updated water studies prior to any determination

I strongly oppose to this modification as it will increase the cumulative negative effects of three large coalmines in area.
Ulan mine has caused major loss of habitat for threatened species, loss of groundwater sources, mine subsidence.
Threatened species and critically endangered species cannot tolerate further loss of native vegetation.
Goulburn River will have additional loss of base flows The drip is a very important environmental feature.
The damage that will occur to the environment and First Nations Cultural sites cannot be accepted, This modification should not be approved

I object to the Ulan extension. There is no future in coal.
Glencore should not be allowed to expand their operations.
Glencore has proven that they are not prepared to modify their arrogant behaviour towards their neighbours, the wider community, the environment, threatened and endangered species, Aboriginal Heritage and other water users.
There is anecdotal, although reliable, evidence from neighbours that noise from mining operations regularly exceeds acceptable levels and monitoring takes place half heartedly with every excuse given for the reasons for the excessive noise other than it being the fault of the company. This is not responsible management.
It is the responsibility of the DPE to ensure mining companies abide by the rules and conditions placed on them or are prevented from expanding or continuing to mine.

260117.Ulan Mod 6 – Submission of objection.

This modification has already been rejected by the land and Environment Court. The amended proposal is very similar to the original overturned project with only minor changes. It only updates select information and fails to reconsider the broader environmental consequences of extending mining in this region.

This Mod 6 is a necessary precursor to a much larger expansion, Modification 8 (Mod 8). These two proposals are functionally inseparable and must be assessed together as a single ‘new project’, not two separate ‘modifications’, to fully understand their cumulative impacts on climate, water, biodiversity and cultural heritage.

Together, Mod 6 and Mod 8 would disturb approximately 2,368 hectares of new land, extend mining until 2041, and significantly increase impacts on water resources, biodiversity, climate and cultural heritage.

The Planning system is seriously flawed in that it still does not consider cumulative impacts, not only the cumulative impacts of Mod 6 and Mod 8, but also the cumulative impacts from existing mine approvals or expansion proposals across the three Mudgee Mines: Ulan, Moolarben, Wilpinjong and so we slowly watch the decimation of the already endangered ecological community of box/gum woodland – extinction by a thousand cuts. Not to mention the cumulative impact on ground water which is our most precious resource.

The amended proposal focuses narrowly on updating select information and fails to reconsider the broader environmental consequences of extending mining in this region. The cumulative loss of threatened species habitat, significant Aboriginal cultural heritage values, water from the landscape and flows to creeks and rivers, and threats to amenity and livelihoods of neighbours has not been assessed

The amendment report still fails to fully identify the impacts of the increased greenhouse gas emissions on the local environment, community and economy, as required under NSW planning law. 3. The proposal will produce an additional 18.8 million tonnes of coal and when combined with Mod 8 (additional 43 MT) there will be over a 45% increase in total emissions above current approved operations at Ulan Mine.

The jobs mantra does not hold water any more in this region. We do not need more mining jobs. There is currently a major labour shortage in the Central West, with local workers needed for construction associated with the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone. This should be our priority.

The amended Mod 6 proposal remains inadequate and should not be approved.

I object to the amended Modification 6 proposal for Glencore’s Ulan Coal Mine.
Background
Ulan Coal Mine is located in the Mudgee region and currently has approval to mine up to 20 million tonnes of coal per year through underground mining until 2033.
An approved underground mine expansion through Modification 6 (Mod 6) was overturned by the NSW Land and Environment Court in November 2025. An amended proposal was subsequently resubmitted to the Department of Planning and placed on public exhibition over the Christmas holiday period, significantly limiting meaningful community engagement.
This amended expansion would extend the life of Ulan Coal Mine to August 2035 and is intended to facilitate a much larger expansion known as Modification 8 (Mod 8). Together, these proposals would disturb approximately 2,368 hectares of additional land.
Modification 8 was exhibited in November and proposes extending mining operations until 2041, disturbing extensive areas of bushland and farmland and further impacting surface and groundwater resources. In my view, these two proposals are clearly interdependent and must be assessed together as a single project in order to properly understand their cumulative impacts on climate, threatened species, cultural heritage, water resources, and surrounding communities.
Ulan Coal Mine is located within the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (CWOREZ). Any further expansion of coal mining in this location will undermine the transition required to achieve a safe climate and a sustainable regional economy.
Further information is available at: https://mdeg.org.au/ulan-mine-modification-6/

Key points of objection
I object to the amended Mod 6 proposal on the following grounds:
1. The proposal must be assessed together with the Ulan Mod 8 proposal as a single new project to allow for a robust assessment of cumulative impacts.
2. The amended report still fails to adequately identify and assess the impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions on the local environment, community, and economy, as required under NSW planning law.
3. The proposal would result in an additional 18.8 million tonnes of coal. When combined with Mod 8 (a further 43 million tonnes), this represents an increase of more than 45% in total emissions above current approved operations at Ulan Mine.
4. There is no assessment of cumulative impacts from existing approvals and proposed expansions across the three Mudgee mines: Ulan, Moolarben, and Wilpinjong.
5. The cumulative loss of threatened species habitat, Aboriginal cultural heritage, landscape water resources, creek and river flows, as well as impacts on the amenity and livelihoods of neighbouring landholders, has not been assessed.
6. The proposal is located within the CWOREZ and will compete for a regional workforce that is urgently needed for new and emerging industries in the Central West.
7. The proposal will place further pressure on already stressed surface and groundwater systems within the Murray–Darling Basin.

More detailed information
1. Amended proposal
The amended Mod 6 proposal has now finalised the mine plan and identified the locations where surface infrastructure will impact native vegetation. The earlier approval overturned by the Land and Environment Court included nine different options for surface infrastructure, demonstrating that a final mine plan had not been completed at that time.
Subsidence from underground mining, together with vegetation clearing for infrastructure such as roads, pipelines, bores, and ventilation shafts, will have significant and lasting impacts on the landscape.
Despite this, the amended proposal fails to comprehensively assess these impacts and instead focuses on a narrow update of selected information. Importantly, there is no acknowledgement that the Mod 8 proposal is dependent on Mod 6 proceeding. In my view, both proposals must be assessed together as a new project. Treating them as separate modifications avoids proper scrutiny and removes community merit appeal rights in the Land and Environment Court.

2. Greenhouse gas assessment
Glencore does not publicly report methane emissions and asserts that Ulan Mine is a low emitter, concluding that there are no feasible measures to reduce fugitive methane emissions. I do not consider this claim to be adequately supported.
The assessment does not meet the requirements of the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to assess the environmental, social, and economic impacts of all greenhouse gas emissions, including Scope 3 emissions, as clarified by the High Court decision relating to the Mount Pleasant Mine.

3. Environmental impacts
The proposal will impact threatened species habitat, including that of the Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat, Powerful Owl, Barking Owl, and Southern Myotis.
There has been ongoing cumulative loss of habitat for the Large-eared Pied Bat and Eastern Cave Bat across the three Mudgee coal mine operations, including the proposed Moolarben Open Cut 3 extension. These cumulative impacts have not been assessed for the risk of Serious and Irreversible Impact (SAII) on these threatened microbat species.
Similarly, the cumulative loss of the critically endangered Box Gum Woodland ecological community across the region has not been assessed as a potential SAII entity.

4. Water impacts
Subsidence and land collapse caused by underground mining damage groundwater systems that store water within the landscape. Groundwater contributes base flows to creeks and rivers.
This mine expansion, particularly when combined with Mod 8, will result in a significant additional loss of flows to the Talbragar River. There is no adequate reporting of cumulative flow losses from existing approvals. The Talbragar River is a major tributary of the Macquarie River within the Murray–Darling Basin and flows downstream of Burrendong Dam. These flows are directly connected to the internationally significant Macquarie Marshes.

5. Aboriginal cultural heritage impacts
The cumulative loss of Aboriginal cultural heritage values in the Ulan area has not been assessed. There is extensive evidence of continuous Wiradjuri occupation of this country and ongoing spiritual connection to the land. A significant number of cultural heritage sites and values will be impacted, particularly when the effects of Mod 6 are combined with those of Mod 8.

6. Not justified
I do not consider further coal mining in the region to be justified on employment grounds. Mining continues to compete for skilled labour that is urgently needed in construction, housing, and renewable energy projects. The Central West is experiencing a significant labour shortage, and local workers are required for the construction of the CWOREZ.
The NSW Government has prioritised the Central West Future Jobs and Investment Authority to manage the transition away from coal mining. The Mudgee region has strong opportunities to diversify its economy, and extending coal mining risks delaying this necessary transition.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit on this matter.
Prof. Don White
Laguna. NSW 2325

Submission against the Modification 6 - underground mining extension
Submission (SUB-104773211)
Dear NSW Government major Projects,

I am a local resident and I strongly object to Glencore’s Ulan Coal Mine Modification 6 (Mod 6) Second Amendment.

This proposal represents another attempt to push through a coal mine expansion that was already overturned by the Land and Environment Court. Despite that decision, the amended proposal remains largely unchanged and does not properly address the issues that were successfully challenged. Exhibiting the proposal over the Christmas period further limited genuine community input.

Mod 6 is not a minor or isolated change. It extends the life of Ulan Mine to 2035 and is a necessary step toward the much larger Modification 8. Together, Mod 6 and Mod 8 would disturb thousands of hectares of new land, extend mining until 2041, and significantly increase impacts on water, wildlife, climate, and Aboriginal cultural heritage. These proposals are clearly linked and must be assessed together as a single new project. Treating them separately obscures their cumulative impacts and removes important community rights and independent oversight.

I am particularly concerned about the damage to wildlife and biodiversity. The proposal will clear and fragment habitat for threatened species, including the Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat, Powerful Owl, Barking Owl, and Southern Myotis. These species are already under pressure from multiple coal mines in the Mudgee region, yet the cumulative loss of habitat has not been properly assessed. The proposal also contributes to the ongoing loss of Box Gum Woodland, a critically endangered ecological community. Once this habitat is destroyed, it cannot be replaced.

Water impacts are also a major concern. Underground mining causes subsidence and long-term damage to groundwater systems, reducing flows to creeks and rivers. When combined with Mod 8, this expansion will further reduce flows to the Talbragar River, which feeds into the Macquarie River system and ultimately the Macquarie Marshes. Independent experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the reliability of groundwater modelling at Ulan Mine, yet these concerns remain unresolved.

The proposal also fails to properly assess climate impacts. The coal mined at Ulan is largely sold overseas, meaning the climate pollution created when it is burned elsewhere is not avoided — it is simply exported. Glencore does not fully disclose or assess greenhouse gas emissions, including methane and emissions from burning the coal, making it impossible to understand the true climate cost of this expansion.

Finally, further coal expansion is not needed to support local jobs. Our region is already facing labour shortages and is meant to be transitioning toward renewable energy and more diverse industries. Extending coal mining will only delay that transition while locking in long-term damage to wildlife, water, and the environment.

For these reasons, I urge the Department of Planning to refuse the Ulan Mod 6 Second Amendment. Mod 6 and Mod 8 are effectively new mines and should be subject to rigorous, full assessment as a new project.

Sincerely,
Very Concerned Resident of Mudgee/Bombira

I strongly object to this proposal.

Coal mining is a dying industry on both a national and global scale. For regional communities like Mudgee, the continuation of coal mining without a transition toward future-focused industries only heightens the risks of abrupt job losses and economic shock. There is considerable evidence to demonstrate that areas reliant on sunset industries suffer from deeper and more prolonged shocks when such plans for transitions are not put in place or are delayed until the issue becomes a reality.

The NSW government recently admitted that the target of net zero emissions by 2050 is becoming even further out of reach. Meaningful climate action requires that emissions cease.

Further, Glencore has set the target of net zero emissions by 2050. The plans to extract an additional 25 million tonnes of coal from the Ulan mine are fundamentally incompatible with this emissions goal.

The consequences of continued climate inaction are already visible. The intensification and increasing frequency of adverse weather events are clearly apparent, with loss of life, economic damage and environmental destruction only increasing. The continuation of coal mining activities are directly contributing to these outcomes.

Furthermore, growing industries such as renewable energy and infrastructure development are competing for the same skillsets present in the mining workforce in the midst of significant labour shortages. Investing in these industries would provide far more favourable long-term economic results for regional development. Simply put, coal mining offers dwindling returns and finite job opportunities.

This proposal would result in the further disturbance of endangered ecological communities, along with significant adverse impacts on threatened flora and fauna. Of particular concern is the projected long-term degradation of the Goulburn River catchment, with effects that would persist for thousands of years into the future. The impacts clearly extend well beyond the operational lifespan of the mine, with significant ecological and cultural costs for generations to come.

This proposal represents a fundamental misalignment with the urgent need for climate action and the long-term economic security of Mudgee. This proposal disregards the worldwide consensus on the need for rapid decarbonisation, along with the local reality that the future of regional economies lies in industries that are both sustainable and future-proof.

I object to this proposal for the following reasons:
1. Amended proposal
This proposal should be assessed together with the Ulan Mod 8 proposal as a new project to provide robust cumulative impact information. Subsidence from underground mining, as well as clearing for infrastructure development (roads, pipelines, bores, ventilator shafts) have a significant impact on the landscape. The amended proposal fails to fully assess the impacts. The Mod 8 proposal is dependent on Mod 6 before it can proceed. It is essential that both proposals are assessed together as a new project.
2. Greenhouse Gas Assessment
The assessment does not meet the requirement of the NSW EP&A Act to assess the environmental, social and environmental impacts of all GHG emissions, including Scope 3, as ruled by the High Court under the Mt Pleasant Mine (Denman) decision.
3. Environmental impacts
The proposal will impact on threatened species habitat particularly Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat, Powerful Owl, Barking Owl, Southern Myotis.
The Large-eared Pied Bat and Eastern Cave Bat have ongoing cumulative loss of habitat across the three Mudgee coal mine operations, including in the proposed Moolarben Open Cut 3 extension. These cumulative impacts have not been assessed for Serious and Irreversible Impact (SAII) on these threatened microbats.
The cumulative loss of Box Gum Woodland critically endangered ecological community across the region as an SAII entity is not assessed.
4. Water Impacts
Subsidence or land collapse caused by underground mining damages groundwater systems that store water in the landscape.
Groundwater provides base flows to rivers and creeks. This mine expansion when combined with Mod 8 will cause a significant additional loss of flow to Talbragar River – does not report cumulative loss of flows from current approvals. The Talbragar River is a major tributary of the Macquarie River in the Murray Darling Basin that flows in below Burrendong Dam. These flows are directly connected to the internationally significant Macquarie Marshes.
5. Aboriginal cultural heritage impacts
The cumulative loss of significant Aboriginal cultural heritage in the Ulan area is not assessed. There is ample evidence of continuous Wiradjuri occupation of the region with spiritual connection to country. A significant number of cultural heritage values will be impacted, particularly when combined with Ulan Mod 8 impacts.
6. Not Justified
There is no need for extended coal mining in the region to provide local jobs. Mining is competing for skilled labour urgently required in the construction, housing and renewable energy industries. There is a major labour shortage in the Central West with local workers needed for the CWO REZ construction.
The NSW Government has prioritised the Central West Future Jobs and Investment Authority to manage the transition away from coal mining. The Mudgee region has many opportunities to diversify the economy.

I strongly oppose Modification 6 because it would extend the life of the Ulan underground coal mine until 2035 and enable further coal extraction that will exacerbate environmental degradation, climate impacts, cumulative water loss, biodiversity declines, and cultural heritage damage. The current modification is not justified under existing planning law and fails to adequately assess key impacts.

Grounds for Objection
1. Inadequate Assessment of Cumulative Impacts
Modification 6 has been structured narrowly to avoid a full cumulative impact assessment with Modification 8 even though these proposals are functionally interdependent. Treating them as separate modifications obscures the scale of environmental, climate, and social impacts and improperly limits community and judicial oversight.
Requested outcome:
Modification 6 must not be approved separately and should instead be assessed as part of a combined new project application with Mod 8 under full merit and cumulative impact assessment.

2. Climate Change & Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The amended Mod 6 does not properly assess greenhouse gas emissions, including fugitive methane and Scope 3 emissions associated with the exported thermal coal produced. This omission contravenes the requirement to assess all relevant environmental impacts of projects that generate greenhouse gases under NSW planning law and recent legal precedent (e.g., Mt Pleasant decision).
Requested outcome:
Require a comprehensive assessment of all emissions, including methane and Scope 3, consistent with statutory obligations.

3. Water Resources — Groundwater & Rivers
Underground longwall mining causes subsidence and depressurisation of groundwater systems, permanently altering hydrology. Independent experts have previously noted modelling limitations, lack of calibration data, and inadequate monitoring that undermine confidence in groundwater impact predictions. These groundwater systems feed into the Talbragar River (Murray–Darling Basin) and influence flows to the Goulburn River — impacts that will endure long after mining ends.
Requested outcome:
Modification must be refused until a robust groundwater impact model is peer-reviewed, validated, and publicly disclosed, with comprehensive monitoring and mitigation conditions.

4. Biodiversity and Threatened Species
The proposed extension will affect habitat for threatened and endangered species such as the Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat, Powerful Owl, Barking Owl, Southern Myotis and critically endangered ecological communities. The EIS and amendment report fail to demonstrate that these impacts are offset or mitigated to avoid serious and irreversible biodiversity loss.
Requested outcome:
Modification should be refused unless it demonstrates avoidance of significant biodiversity impacts or provides legally enforceable, adequate offsets.

5. Cultural Heritage Impacts
There is extensive evidence of Wiradjuri occupation and culturally significant sites within the mine area. The amendment does not fully identify or assess the cumulative loss of Aboriginal cultural heritage values that would result from extended mining operations.
Requested outcome:
Require an independent cultural heritage assessment in consultation with First Nations custodians and demonstrable mitigation or avoidance strategies.

6. Inappropriate Strategic Context
The proposal is located within the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone, where labour and resources are urgently needed for clean energy infrastructure. Expanding a thermal coal mine undermines regional transition opportunities and locks in long-term environmental damage without strategic justification.
Requested outcome:
Reject Mod 6 on the grounds that it is inconsistent with regional strategic objectives and a safe climate transition.

Conclusion
For the reasons outlined above — insufficient cumulative impact assessment, inadequate climate emissions analysis, unverified water and biodiversity impacts, and unresolved cultural heritage concerns — I object to Modification 6 and urge the Department to refuse approval or require a consolidated assessment with Mod 8 as a new project.

I strongly object to the Ulan Coal Mine Amended Modification 6 [MP08_0184-Mod-6 ] proposal.
The impact from the extension and expansion of the coal mining in the Ulan Coal Complex (UCC) has not been adequately assessed. There is a remarkable absence of consideration of necessary action on climate change.

Following the Mt Pleasant Mine (Denman) Decision of the Court of Appeals last year, the impact assessment of Ulan Mod 6 is required to include the impact of the Scope 3 emissions and climate change impact in the locality of the activity. The Amended Greenhouse Gas Assessment ( Appendix 6) continues to focus on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions with an apparent limited understanding that at law the consideration of the impact of Scope 3 emissions, the greenhouse gases emitted from the activity of actually burning the coal dug up in the Ulan Coal Complex but being burnt in another country, is not just about accounting for the quantity.

This Amended Ulan Mod 6 extension proposal is required to assess the impact of climate change from the Scope 3 emissions on the locality and it does not. It appears to consider it is adequate assessment to just follow the NSW Guide for Large Emitters” (EPA,2025). It is not. Accountability is not just about numbers in a ledger. It is about consideration of the consequences of a decision in the decision-making process. In 2026, in the face of catastrophic fires, sustained heatwaves, unpredictable wild weather worldwide and the impact of climate chaos we will continue to be confronted, presumably increasingly so, as greenhouse gases emissions continue to increase. We are confronted with our duty of care and our failure to respect inter-generational equity.

Furthermore, this proposal, although for an underground coal mine, is part of the UCC. It is, in actual impact and effect, disturbing over two thousand hectares of new country, both farmland and native vegetation because another proposal, Ulan Coal Mine Mod 8, is dependent on Mod 6 being approved for it to be able to proceed.

The cumulative impact of the UCC activities must be considered. Mod 8 is in effect a new project that has not been required to be assessed as such, riding on the back of Mod 6.

The approval of expansion of coal mines and the increase of greenhouse gas emissions with the already rapidly heating atmosphere and oceans is not rational. The impact of continuing to expand reliance on fossil fuels for short term corporate financial gain is at exponential cost to the public interest, on so many levels, including biodiversity loss.

The White box – Yellow Box – Blakely’s Red Gum Woodland and Derived Native Grassland is a Critically Endangered Ecological Community under the EPBC Act, Federal legislation. The Mod 6 proposal and the necessary concomitant assessment with Mod 8 must consider if there is a Serious And Irreversible Impact from the proposal. Further loss of an already critically endangered ecological community is a grave risk of having a SAII that has not been adequately assessed with the cumulative impact from Mod 8 that an approval of Mod 6 would result in.

The Amended Biodiversity Assessment Report exemplifies the consequences of not considering the cumulative impact of Mod 8 in conjunction with Mod6. Commendably there is a 91% reduction of disturbance area of the Box-Gum Woodland CEEC but given that Mod 8 can only proceed if Mod 6 is approved and that there is a further current locality loss through the Moolarben and Wilpinjong mines as well as Mod 8, there is indeed grounds for consideration of a SAII, which has not been undertaken.

In any case, the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the digging up and burning of coal if Mod 6 was approved would mean an increase in the likelihood of more intense, more frequent unprecedented extreme weather events like the heatwave being experienced in Victoria this week. I understand that Mr Albanese thanked the 15,000 volunteers that had worked on the Victorian fires in early January, (with two fire grounds still burning today January 27 2026). The extraordinary fire conditions demand time, water, aerial reconnaisance, money, human labour and so much stress and anxiety for the people having to deal with these circumstances, let alone ongoing suffering of PTSD, grief, and material hardship. The social costing of any increase of greenhouse gas emissions is immensurable.

But, we do know, following the Net Zero Commission December 2025 report that
"Consistent with the objectives of the Climate Change Act, NSW consent authorities need to meaningfully consider greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts in all planning decisions, including those for additional coal mining."
AND "Continued extensions or expansions to coal mining in NSW are not consistent with the emissions reduction targets in the Climate Change Act or the Paris Agreement temperature goals it gives effect to". [Findings 3 and 4]

I submit that it is not in the public interest to approve Ulan Coal Mine Modification 6

I object to the continued incremental expansion of the coal industry in NSW. We are seeing more and more impacts of climate worldwide. We have record droughts in western Victoria, fires and floods in Victoria at the same time. More floods in N Queensland. Yet another really hot summer and we know with high confidence that these conditions will be normal or even mild in a few decades time if we continue to mine and export coal. I fear for our children and grandchildren and find this continued climate vandalism unconscionable. Someone, somewhere, has to take leadership.

Ulan Coal makes a direct contribution of $846 million to the economy, which encompasses 730 direct jobs, $115 million in wages, and an annual expenditure of $469 million across 920 suppliers. The advantages extend not only to the local community but also to suppliers located further away. They consistently monitor and enhance processes related to environmental impacts throughout the complex. It is broadly recognized that the existing global net zero initiatives are inadequate and not progressing towards achieving the Paris Agreement objectives, and coal will continue to be necessary until green energy solutions are enhanced and become more dependable.

I support the Ulan West Mod 6 program as it plays a significant role in supporting the local Mudgee community and the broader regional economy. Ulan West provides ongoing employment, supports local businesses, and contributes to essential services in the area. Coal remains one of Australia’s largest and most important resources, and operations like Ulan West are a key part of maintaining energy security, export strength, and economic stability. Mod 6 allows the mine to continue operating responsibly while meeting environmental and regulatory requirements, ensuring the benefits to the local community and workforce can be sustained into the future.

I support this modification to the project as the economic benefits the ulan complex brings to the Mudgee community are many. Ulan complex supports many local organisations and events directly and the jobs and work for local businesses help Mudgee prosper economically.

The Ulan complex has a good environmental record and after reading the greenhouse gas management plan they have put forward as part of this approval process has convinced me they are committed to managing the greenhouse gas effects and climate change effects that may result from this extension.

I think that if the mines are unable to continue in this area the Mudgee region may struggle economically and people will move elsewhere due to the loss of work in the area.

Please see attached submission

Please see attached PDF.

On behalf of Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Orange I strongly object to the proposed Ulan Mod 6 due to its potential impacts on climate change, biodiversity and water sources.

I am currently employed at Ulan Coal Mine and strongly support the proposed Mod 6 expansion. This project will help secure ongoing employment for local workers, strengthen the regional economy, and maximise the use of existing mine infrastructure.
Coal mining continues to be a vital industry for our community, providing stable employment and making an important contribution to Australia’s energy supply and export market. Ulan Coal Mine has a strong track record of safe and responsible operations, and I am confident the proposed extension will maintain these standards while supporting long-term stability for local families and businesses.
I strongly support the approval of this modification.

I wish to express my support for this project.
It is merely a small extension to a currently existing Mine.
I feel that we are nowhere near where we need to be regarding renewables.
The resource is there and I strongly feel that it should be utilized.
There must also be consideration for the amount of employment this business provides. In turn it supports a huge array of external businesses, providing income for hundreds of families.
This directly has a positive impact on the local towns and villages. Once again providing more employment and revenue.
To conclude, by stopping this extension, I feel that a great opportunity will be missed.

points of objection: 1. Must be assessed together with the Ulan Mod 8 proposal as a new project to provide robust cumulative impact information. 2. The amendment report still fails to fully identify the impacts of the increased greenhouse gas emissions on the local environment, community and economy, as required under NSW planning law. 3. The proposal will produce an additional 18.8 million tonnes of coal and when combined with Mod 8 (additional 43 MT) there will be over a 45% increase in total emissions above current