I am a fulltime employee of HVO & reasons why I am supporting this decision include:
- HVO provides significant employment opportunities to the greater Hunter Valley & NSW districts,
- NSW needs this approval & creating 1500 direct employment opportunities plus the flow on from effect from the support services to the mining industry, this then provides taxes & mining royalties that benefit every single person within the state of NSW,
- This submission is in principle an extension of the existing lease, with no significant change to the production rates,
- Current day coal miners are responsible & have an obligation to the environment
Iam in full support of this submission & hope this is approved

Letter of support attached.

On behalf of our 200 Muswellbrook Business Members, the Muswellbrook Chamber of Commerce supports the proposal to continue operations at HVO North OC. Our support is based on the employment and economic benefits that flow to Muswellbrook residents and businesses.
Since the 1970's HVO has made substantial contributions to the Upper Hunter economy and is part of our economic landscape.
The removal of these benefits before 2050 could have profound impacts on local employment and local suppliers of materials and services to the site. A recent report prepared by The Institute of Public Affairs states that, in the transition to net zero emissions, 9,327 jobs or 26% of all jobs in the Upper Hunter are at risk.
Muswellbrook Chamber has welcomed support from HVO with contributions from Glencore towards local events, educational programs and promotions. The benefits of these programs flow to businesses in the tourism, hospitality, retail sectors and the wider community.
In the transition to the low carbon future, there are no current alternative projects that could match the economic inputs of HVO
and the coal mining industry in the Upper Hunter. The continuation of operations like HVO are necessary to sustain the local economy and fund the transition to low carbon renewables and alternative industries. At this stage there is little evidence of alternative labour-intensive export industries to replace the economic value of coal in the next two(2) or three(3) decades.
We thank the Department for the opportunity to comment and look forward to a favourable determination.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Kelly
President MCCI

This project provides jobs and support for many people in the whole hunter valley

I object to the Hunter Valley Operations Open Cut Coal Continuation Project (North and South) (“the Project”) because the:

1. Economic analysis is inadequate and does not consider the impact on the Equine Critical Industry Cluster. The economic analysis does not reflect the true costs of the Project as it underestimates or ignores the environmental and other industry impacts/costs and over estimates the benefits;
2. Project will result in air quality impacts and exceedances exacerbating already unacceptably dusty and polluted conditions in the Upper Hunter;
3. Project will result in unacceptable noise impacts on neighbouring studs, negatively impacting the studs’ operations and the people and their families who reside on those studs;
4. Project will impose health impacts for humans and horses which have not been properly assessed;
5. Water impacts of the Project are unacceptable to us as a community and an industry.
6. Project presents deficient surface and groundwater assessments, imposes additional risks and stresses on the already vulnerable Hunter River and its tributaries; breaches of the Aquifer Interference Policy; and will leave as its legacy a final void that will be hyper-saline, take 1000 years to reach equilibrium and impose an unacceptable perpetual impost on future generations;
7. Project will bring the visual impacts of mining (dust, noise and blasting) closer to the town of Jerrys Plains, and closer to the operations of Coolmore, one of the central players in our industry.
8. Project will bring the visual impacts of mining much closer to residents, towns and roads at the southern Gateway of the Hunter’s Thoroughbred Breeding Industry at Jerrys Plains.
9. Cumulative impact assessments –for air quality and water sources in the Hunter – are absent from this EIS contrary to the Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) and NSW Guidelines;
10. Impacts on investment and economic diversity in the region will be deleterious;
11. The impacts on the Hunter’s Equine Critical Industry Cluster have not been assessed; and
12. Project, a significant expansion to open cut coal mining in close proximity to an international scale stud operator and one of the central players critical to the functioning of the Equine CIC, is an incompatible land use which cannot coexist in close proximity.
13. Project represents unacceptable social, economic and environmental risks that are contrary to Government net zero and land use policies.
14. Project does not abide by the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development, particularly intra and inter-generational equity.
15. Project is not in the public interest and should be rejected.

I support the project for the continuation

Integrated Reliability Solitons provides mining maintenance and reliability services to HVO through onsite labour hire and material purchases.

This continuation project will provide reassurance in our market (which can generally be hot and cold) that will allow us to plan and hopefully grow internally and therefore support HVO further if demand requires or expand to take on new clients.

Integrated Reliability Solutions (IRS) supports HVO in its projects and endeavours, this project will not only benefit IRS but the local and wider community through continued and growing employment, local manufacture and materials procurement.

We look forward to continued working with and support to HVO

Regards

Matthew Pullin
Engineering and Commercial Manager
Integrated Reliability Solutions

I run a small business that has been supported by the coal mining industry for nearly 25 years. I wish to continue my business in the coal mining industry and the mine expansion will assist in that regard. Hunter Valley Operations being a current client of mine.

Please find attached DAMS HEG Inc"s objection to the HVO North Open Cut Coal Continuation. We urge everyone to think about their possible role in protecting our Earth for the sake of the generations to come.