Moolarben Coal - Expansion

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I wish to object to approval of Stage 2 of the Moolarben Coal Project and my submission is attached.

Originally my partner and I were for the development of Moolarben. Given the track record of what has happened with this mine and the others in the area I believe that the brakes need to be put onto the expansion of mining in the area. I see no reason why all the resources need to be dug up as quickly as possible. So what if a mine life is expanded to 50 years, rather than 28 years or even 100 years.
The mine seems to delay putting out information to the public, almost hoping people don't find out about what they are up to. This week I learned that Moolarben now own "the drip", however this transaction occurred many months ago. Why does a mine need to own a piece of our natural beauty? What guarantees are in place that the public will be able to access "the drip"? Typically mines don't like people going on their properties for insurance reasons, which I agree is a valid reason - why is "the drip" not going to fall into this category.
I'd like to see "The drip" and surrounding areas handed over to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service immediately so it can form part of the Goulburn River National Park.
I find it unacceptable to be alerted to this expansion plan with a letter box drop of a leaflet well into the public consultation process. I rang the mine asking for a hard copy of the submission as looking at all the different PDFs is difficult. I was originally informed that there were no copies. I stated that I would be writing that I requested a copy and one wasn't available. Only after this statement was made the comment came back, oh, I'll see what I can do. They found a copy and delivered it.
All the data in the reports are old. The latest water sampling is from 2009. Surely a report should have the latest data in it. The dust monitoring data is up until 31-12-2010, on contacting the mine, they tell me the last 6 months of data is available on the internet, they e-mailed me the other data. Why does the mine not keep all data available on the internet? What are they trying to hide?
The desktop study they perform to work out who would be affected by the mine seems to be inconsistent. We're property 216, which is outside the "zone", yet a property lower than us is in the zone. I'd have thought that a property with line of site would still have line of sound/dust? Obviously they have not done the study correctly.
With the desktop study for stage 1, it appears that the reports grossly underestimated effects of mining, as they are now purchasing land further away from the mine due to noise levels being higher than what was mapped. What is to say they have it right this time?
I'm informed that up to 12km's from the mine water tables drops are likely, yet I am unaware of any water monitoring near where I live.
There is lack of consistency with colours that are used on the maps, one map the colour for the mine is blue, the next map it is yellow and residential properties are blue. (CHECK COLOURS)
I question the dust report, as during non raining days, a dust haze is visible over Moolarben Coal Operations, we've photos taken from different days, although our cheap camera doesn't capture it as good as the human eye. Yet the monitoring shows it is anything but mine dust. If mining is to be allowed, then monitoring needs to include visual, not just dust collection points, which I'd question have been strategically located where the dust isn't likely to fall.
Still awaiting on Ulan tip to be built from being removed in stage one. We've a makeshift one now, which is a disgrace. Where is the new one as agreed with stage one?
When we first moved here, you could see the Liverpool ranges in the distance clearly, these days most days the valley has a blue haze in it.
With three mines in the area, how are we going to know who is making the dust? The report doesn't seem to show many incidents of dust issues. I know this isn't the case, as I've photos with huge dust plumes over the mine. See photos attached to this submission.
The gutters here now have a greyish slug in them, this never was the case before mining became so intense in the area.
$1.4 mil to council for a project which extends mine life to 28 years, equates to around $37,000 a year for a mine which is rumoured to makes around $1 mil a day profit.
Ulan road use to be a low traffic road, the RTA did a study on the road and said that the road was an acceptable quality. This study is very old now considering the car movements which occur on this road today. Council has stated that it is doing no upgrades to this road for the next 12 months. The road is falling apart due to all the mine traffic using it. The mines need to be forced into paying for the road to be upgraded. This needs to occur now. Whilst mines need clearance from the government for their plans, it is the only time that councils and state governments can get additional funds from the mines. This opportunity continues to be lost with the mine upgrades.
Moolarben makes a big deal out of giving $1.365 mil to Mid-Western Regional Council for Stage 2, for a project that allows the mine to run for 28 years. This is under $50K a year for a project worth $1.5 billion. Mine traffic does more than $1.365 mil in road damage.
Whilst growth is good for towns, with all the increased mining activities in the area, enormous pressures have been put on accommodation prices where less fortunate people can no longer afford the rents in Mudgee and have been forced to live in Caravan parks.
Mining pays really well, people driving diggers and trucks around mines are being paid $120,000 per year, although this is over various shifts, I'm informed that it is basically a 38 hour week. Mudgee businesses are finding it hard to keep workers as they go to work in the mine. What processes are the mines putting in place to train an excess of workers to drive trucks so there is not so much pressure on the local communities.
How can a mine purchase land which has been used for farming for over 100 years, then declare that it is no good as farming land anymore and be allowed to mine it. When I purchased this property I was informed that if it was over 100 acres, I had to perform farming on it, it could lay dormant. What happened to this requirement?
Why is a mine able to purchase these lands and still pay farm rates on it? If it isn't suitable for farming, then it isn't suitable for farming rates.
Moolarben constantly say they employ local people if available, this isn't the case. My partner was a Commercial Manager with Roche and put forward her resume when the mine started up through their processes. At the time Ulan open cut was being shut down. No interview, not even a thank you letter was ever received from them.
Overall I'm not against mining; I am against being told one thing and then something else happening. Moolarben has been allowed to make 8 changes to their mining plans. The modus operandi is to make the plan good enough to pass government controls, then put in submission after submission to make changes to what they really want. Each change on its own seems benign enough, when you put them altogether, they are such a deviation from the original plan, that I wonder how it has been allowed to happen.
I believe that if this plan is passed, it should not be allowed to be changed for at least 10 years. Personally I believe this plan should be rejected outright.
We need mining, I moved in to an area which had one mine, it had the occasional dust issue, now I live in a three mine area, about to be more. I believe a brake needs to be put on the mines to reduce the speed that the coal is ripped out of the ground. Especially with mines which are 100% foreign owned. The use of low noise technologies, conveyer belts rather than haulage trucks, etc. So what if they only make $800,000 profit a day rather than the $1mil.
At the end of the day I understand that governments are addicted to the royalties and they want as much money as possible, which usually means that mines get the go-ahead without too much fuss. If we have to live with ever increasing rates of mining in the area, at the very minimum more money should go to the local community, we have to live with it.
For Moolarben I'd like to see them forced to have only one open cut pit going at a time, they can mix the coal with the underground, this will not make it such an eye sore for as long.
Thank you for allowing me to comment on their stage 2 plan, thank you for taking the time to read my objection.

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A formal submission in form of a letter has been attached.

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