Wilpinjong Coal Mine Extension

I wish to object to the proposed extension of Wilpinjong mine for the following reasons:
The ongoing impacts on groundwater and surface water systems will be greater than predicted.
The predicted job numbers are overstated compared, with the current workforce extracting the same volume of coal.
Peabody Energy is in deep financial distress and may not be fit to meet all its obligations.
The contract to supply AGL's Bayswater Power Station can be met by the current approval.
The proposal to continue extracting low quality coal while causing irreversible environmental and social damage cannot be justified.
The mine will produce an additional 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year, exacerbating the impacts of climate change. This is at odds with Australia's commitments under the Paris Accord.
The area has significant Aboriginal cultural heritage values that have not been assessed in a regional context.

I wish to lodge my objection to this project on the following grounds:
The extension of Wilpinjong Mine will make the village of Wollar unlivable.
The cumulative social impact of loss of population through mining projects from Ulan to Bylong has not been considered.
The noise assessment, monitoring and mitigation measures are totally inadequate.
Air quality has not been assessed against the new standards adopted in December 2015.
The extension will remove 354 hectares of remnant native vegetation and have an impact on 24 threatened species and ecological communities - more than the current approval. The biodiversity offsets will not provide sufficient habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater.
The cumulative impacts on biodiversity, Aboriginal cultural heritage, water sources, greenhouse gas emissions, community and rural industry have not been rigorously assessed.
The mine will produce an additional 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year, exacerbating the impacts of climate change. This is at odds with Australia's commitments under the Paris Accord.
The area has significant Aboriginal cultural heritage values that have not been assessed in a regional context.
The extension removes existing buffer zones for the Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve.
The extension will leave three final voids that will permanently scar the landscape and harm waterways for hundreds of years.
The ongoing impacts on groundwater and surface water systems will be greater than predicted.
The predicted job numbers are overstated compared, with the current workforce extracting the same volume of coal.
Peabody Energy is in deep financial distress and may not be fit to meet all its obligations.
The contract to supply AGL's Bayswater Power Station can be met by the current approval.
The proposal to continue extracting low quality coal while causing irreversible environmental and social damage cannot be justified.

This proposed project is entirely unsustainable, in terms of economic, environmental and socio-cultural factors. It clearly will have disastrous consequences for local cultural heritage and consequences for biodiversity in the region. Given that its financial viability is uncertain, the State government should take the opportunity to make a sustainable decision that also accords with Australia's obligations to reduce its carbon emissions by transition to, and promotion of, renewable energy technologies.

The Wilpinjong extension project is a significant financial contribution to the NSW Mudgee region as the mining activity is a major supporter in the Mid West region, both directly and indirectly and it will benefit the Region for many year. I support the extension Project

As the world has started to move away from using coal, it does not make economic sense to approve new coal mines or extensions to existing coal mines. Perhaps it is the generous tax subsidies, paid for by voters, that enable these developments. Why swim against the tide of both common sense and economic reality? Of course, lost in this is the reality of increased pollution - both noise and dust - for the people of Wollar. We must fight for our small communities in the face of the government's outrageous decisions.

I HAVE HAD THE OPPERTUNITY TO WORK AT WILPINJONG COAL MINE WORKING IN VARIIOUS ROLES FOR VARIOUS COMPANIES OVER THE LAST 7 YEARS. THIS HAS PROIVIDED MYSELF AND MY FAMILY A OPPERTUNITY THAT I WOULDNT OF HAD IF I HAD NOT MOVED HERE.
I THINK THAT THE FUTURE OF THIS MINE AND ITS EXTENSION WILL NOT ONLY PROVIDE MY FAMLY A RELABLE FUTRE BUT ALSO SO MANY OTHER FAMILIES THAT RELY ON THIS MINE TO OPERATE.

I have been working at Wilpinjong coal for the last few years and as a father of 2 teenage children, this has given me the opportunity to give them a better high school education and a better way of life.

The extension will also be able to give them the opportunity to get to university.

I support the approval of this project.

I work at Wilpinjong Mine and live nearby. The mine provides me with work that I enjoy and an income to support my family with. I live in a house owned by the mine. Because of Wilpinjong mine my family and I enjoy an idyllic rural lifestyle.
I believe that mining fills a need in rural areas, providing valued employment and careers otherwise often absent.

Objection to extension of Wilpinjong Mine by Peabody Energy .

The business case is not there, taking in the employment, environmental and Tourism aspects long term.

Job numbers are exaggerated. Irrespective of this, the statistics ignore the trades and useful, harmless and healthy jobs lost to the community all around the district, when people desert them for mining. Public health, and equitable spending power are declining all around this area due to mines, already.

Remaining small towns like Wollar are essential for the future recovery of the country economies after mining has done its best to devastate the sustainable and nourishing agricultural occupations.

What is left of the habitat and wildlie around this Wilpinjong mine is already critically threatened. Its retention is essential for the recovery of Tourism and biodiversity after the mines die.

What should be happening now is the preservation of all the small towns including Wollar. It is there that people will live who can care for the scarred land, revitalise it and use what water is left to carry on sustainable use of this once clean, fertile and productive valley floor.

There is no need for the coal, the powerstations have enough.

Wollar is a future centre for renewable energy workers and their families. Peabody should be looking to set up research and testing of renewable resources within its lands, not further ruining the earth and banishing its people.

I totally object to expanding Wilpinjong any further.

Like most of the other mine extensions occurring in the Hunter Valley, this proposal will not only make the area unlivable for the people of Wollar, but it also involves the clearing of significant areas of native vegetation, in one of the most highly cleared landscapes of coastal NSW.

The offsets proposed to not meet the 'like for like' criteria. That is, Regent Honeyeater habitat would need to be offset by Regent Honeyeater habitat of the same quality... but really, Regent Honeyeater habitat shouldn't be cleared at all. Lest they go the way of the Black-throated finch, recently declared extinct in NSW.

It is clear that this is another cut, in the death of a 1000 cuts, that sees mine extension after mine extension considered in isolation, rather than an assessment of the cumulative impacts, on both the communities and the environment.

Inadequate assessment of noise and dust is situation normal. The assessment process is really more a rubber stamp for an industry that is leading to the asphyxiation of our planet.

It is totally unacceptable for a company on the brink of financial collapse to impact so adversely on an Australian village.

One obvious scenario is they expand the mine then go under leaving the devastation behind.

There is a massive oversupply of coal in the world. The price is low, so it is unviable before it begins.

Please prevent this destruction of the environment based on a lost cause. Coal is the past; encourage clean energy.

That we are still be invited to write submissions on proposed mining extensions in this day and age beggars belief. What part of climate science and climate change in the public domain does the New South Wales government not understand?
Coal is history, and we must look to the post coal economy to find new horizons in terms of employment and viability of NSW's towns, villages, rural and outback communities.
Everything is wrong with Peabody's request to destroy Wollar. We all understand that they are a company with significant financial problems, and that in a bid to appease their fleeing share-holders they will do what it takes. Black lung among many other detrimental health conditions acquired as a result of living and or working near mining projects has taken hold in our communities and has hit the airwaves - there is no denying the dire medical impacts of mining in terms of miners and the communities that surround mines any longer. So why should an extension that we all know will make people sick be permitted?
This mining company is questionably 'solvent' ... are they? ... and we have to wonder could they actually afford the costs of any catastrophic impact that their work might have on the surrounding environment. Look at BHP and Samarco and Vale and the shocking devastation that they created, one could say wifully, at the end of last year in Brazil.
This proposal from Peabody must be rejected. The evidence and empirical data is in on coal mines, and it is dire - no-one is prepared to be deluded any longer. Just as the salvage companies back in the 18th and 19th centuries objected to shipping forecasts being implemented because they were bad for business as they saved sailors' lives, so the mining companies wil squeal and object to their business and business practices being rejected and mothballed.
It is wrong wrong wrong, and you as the government are the trustees of our money and our state, and consequently you do not have my permission to grant this extension to this polluting, fossil fuel, community destroying company.
Shame on you, New South Wales Government, for even wasting our time with this submission process.

I'm extremely concerned about the Wilpinjon Extension Project. If approved this will have major impacts on biodiversity, water resources now and in the future, community and rural industry, as well as Aboriginal culture. 20 tonnes of extra greenhouse gas and it's effect on climate change is unthinkable coupled with the fact that Peabody is reported to be in deep financial distress. The village of Wollar will be unliveable and important native vegetation lost forever.
Australia doesn't need this foul, dying industry. It's days are done. there are too many reasons not to approve the application and too few to approve it.

Please don't completely destroy the beautiful little town of Wollar. We have family in the area and are devastated to think they will have to leave an area which is so special to them, surely you have destroyed enough of that wonderful country - leave Wollar alone.

I am a member of the Mudgee Region and have two local businesses.
I choose to support the Wilpinjong extension, my reason is that it will bring positive effects to the local economy.
The environmental issues are of no concern to me due to the location of the extension, it will have marginal impacts to the human and the rural movements.

Renewable energy is the best option for the future both in terms of the environment and in economic terms. Peabody Pty is going broke as are about 60% of coal companies globally. The future is not in coal. Please do not allow the proposed explansion
regards
Michael Jones

** The ongoing impacts on groundwater and surface water systems will be greater than predicted.
The proposal to continue extracting low quality coal while causing irreversible environmental and social damage cannot be justified
.*The extension will leave three final voids that will permanently scar the landscape and harm waterways for hundreds of years.

I support the extension of Wilpinjong. The reasons being that 4 years ago I was lucky enough to be employed by Peabody being an older woman they have been very supportive of my training. They have very good rehabilitation guidelines and following all the EPA limits regarding noise and dust levels.
I will retire well before 2033 however being a person born and bred around Gulgong I know coal mining is essential for its survival .
So for all business and employment of our community we need this extension approved.

Hi,
I currently work for the wilpinjong coal mine. This provides a income for my family, with this i live in the mudgee area.My family helps around mudgee and plays sport with in the community.

My income from the mine supports a lot of busniesses in mudgee and the surrounding areas.

The mine helps in so mean ways around this area and state. It would be get if wilpinjong coal mine gets this increase to mine life.
Thanks