The following attachment promotes the support of the optimisation project at Mount Pleasant. Not only will it ensure continued employment but lead to an increase in employment to over 800 miners. The proposal will also guarantee continuity of the mine and the benefits Mount Pleasant brings to the community of the Upper Hunter. My submission will demonstrate how Mount Pleasant through the creation of the Aboriginal Community Development Fund has improved the outcomes and closed the gap for Aboriginal people in the Upper Hunter in; education, health, culture, and employment.

I object to the Mount Pleasant Optimisation proposal and seek that an Independent Planning Commission reviews the proponent’s technical reports, particular water and final void impacts, Hunter River impacts, and cumulative impacts particularly on water, air quality and dust.

There will be significant changes to landform and many negative inter-generational impacts once the mine closes.

The coal mining industry is on the decline. It is permanently dislocating more prime agricultural land. We need to look to the future and support our agriculture and tourism industries. They are here for the long term and provide sustainable jobs and strong diverse regional economies. They should be respected and protected not constantly under siege.

The Hunter needs economic diversity. Sustainable agricultural and tourism industries and these jobs should not be sacrificed for mining. Governments should end the land use conflict in the Hunter by protecting our lands, water and agricultural / tourism industries.

I object to the Mount Pleasant Optimisation proposal and seek that an Independent Planning Commission reviews the proponent’s technical reports, particular water and final void impacts, Hunter River impacts, and cumulative impacts particularly on water, air quality and dust

I am concerned about the negative effect that mining is having in the Upper Hunter Valley , especially on water levels, air quality and the size of the voids left when the mining is finished. This modification will encroach on Aberdeen and there is insufficient buffer between the mine and other people living in the area. The draw down of water is unacceptably high particularly in light of the increased variability of rainfall.

I would like to submit my objection to this project for a number of important reasons.

While not a local resident for whom the negative impacts are both onerous and overt, as a frequent visitor to the Upper Hunter I am greatly concerned about the effects of this mine on the immediate environment should it be expanded and extended, as well as the broader contribution its increased output will make to climate change when the coal extracted is subsequently burned. The total emissions from this one project amount to 0.2% (1/500th) of the worlds remaining carbon budget, if warming is to be limited to an already dangerous 1.5C.

In addition to this, air quality in the Upper Hunter is already hugely compromised by the disturbing concentration of coalmines in the area, with the third worst levels of air pollution in Australia after the Pilbara and Mt Isa, but with a significantly larger population than those two regions being exposed to such dangerous levels. I know this has had meaningful negative health impacts on local residents, including increased levels of respiratory diseases and even lower birth weights for babies.

But one of the reasons I visit the Hunter is for its beautiful landscapes and natural environments; the damage to and destruction of habitats, loss of native bushland and wildlife that will occur should Mt Pleasant be granted permission to expand and extend its timeline is dreadful to contemplate. Given the environmental destruction and visual insult the mine already represents, and the further damage and destruction that will occur should the approval be granted, the name 'Mt Pleasant' is already a terrible irony.

Australian woodland ecosystems are collapsing; the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative has identified the Upper Hunter as a bottleneck in continuous habitat migration opportunity for species; plant, animal, fungi and micro-organisms, as habitat changes with the climate. Biodiversity here needs protection, not more destruction.

The mine site also includes two threatened fauna species - the striped legless lizard (Pteropus poliocephalus) and the squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) - as well as the tiger orchid (Cymbidium canaliculatum), which belongs to the endangered Hunter flora. Given Australia's appalling record on extinctions, how it can be knowingly and deliberately considered appropriate to hasten the extinction of three living species for a dirty, polluting industry that is deservedly facing extinction itself, other than for sheer greed, political favours and profit - all of the latter to go to a foreign entity with zero returned to this country, let alone the residents of the Hunter.

While rock mounds planned for the west side might be reduced in area, the eastern landform near the river will become significantly higher - the eastern spoil pile would be almost as high as Mt Pleasant itself in places and visible from Scone, while breaking through the east-west ridge of Castlerock Road will significantly impact the visual amenity of people in Aberdeen and break into the Upper Hunter Valley.

The sop of offset land being granted to *balance* this wholesale wreckage of the environment - on basalt country mostly west of Merriwa – is nothing whatsoever like the fertile and productive land and landscape that will be destroyed should this mine expansion occur.

As a concerned voter and visitor to the Hunter, I am trusting that common sense, the greater good and concern for both the environment and the future will prevail, and you will not permit the Mt Pleasant expansion and extension to proceed.

Sincerely, Carolyn Diamond.

Mt Pleasant submission

I object to this project on a number of grounds.

1 Final void and final landform . The final void (non-draining basin left at the end of mining) will be approximately 2.5 x 5 km. The lake at the bottom 3 x 0.5 km. This lake will become more saline as time goes by. Forever. The void should be filled so natural water movement through the landscape is resumed. This type of forever impact is not allowed in other advanced countries. If reshaping the landscape, so the overburden emplacement links in with the Mt Pleasant ridge to the west, is not economically viable, then the project is not economically viable. The proposed final landform to 320m in height is unacceptable. It will alter the landscape beyond recognition and will unnaturally dominate the vista. Again, into geological time.


2 Water. 40ML of water, mainly from the Hunter River alluvials will flow into the void annually. While this claimed to be a small amount, it is like the void, forever, into geological time. We are entering an age of great uncertainty around climate. Who is to say what is a small amount of water. Furthermore, a significant area of land will drain into the final void, not the Hunter, in runoff events.

3 Air quality. Muswellbrook already suffers from poor air quality as a direct result of this mine, directly upwind of the town, as well as cumulative impacts from all mining. The tonnage expansion will inevitably make this situation worse. EIS modeling confirms this. It needs to be remembered that there is no safe level of air pollution and there are already elevated levels of respiratory disease in the Upper Hunter. Health costs to the community and the government must be factored into any economic cost benefit analysis of the project.

4 Biodiversity impact. Two threatened fauna species are found in the area, the striped legless lizard (Pteropus poliocephalus and the squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis). In Addition the tiger orchid (Cymbidium canaliculatum), belonging to the endangered Hunter population, occurs on the site. Grassy Grey box woodland and derived grassland is prevalent on the site. The offset areas are predominately in the Merriwa district on basalt-derived soils, and as a result quite different ecosystems. They are NOT like for like.


5 Climate impact. Climate change is already occurring, the 2019-2020 fires are just one example of the impacts. The IPCC 2018 report made clear the huge difference between 1.5 degree C of warming and 2 degrees C. A recent UN report predicted that if already committed reductions were achieved (by 2030) total annual emissions would be 1% less than current totals. The scientific assessment accepted by the UN states that a 45% reduction by 2030 is what is required if we are to be on track for a 1.5 deg C limit. This project will result in adding 860 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. It matters not at all where it is added. It needs to be pointed that this is approximately 0.2% (1/500th)of the total global carbon budget we have left to avoid going above 1.5 degrees. For 600 jobs for 27 years. We all have a moral responsibility to include the interests of future generations when we make decisions that will without doubt impact on them. Everyone involved in the bureaucratic chain of decision-making has this responsibility

CONCLUSION. This project has two basic components, an application to extend mining beyond 2026 to 2048, and to double the extraction rate. I ask the department to treat the two aspects separately. If permission is NOT granted to increase the rate of extraction, the impacts of the Mt Pleasant mine will not increase beyond those currently being endured by the surrounding population. No one will lose their job as a result. Less than 4 years ago MACH was satisfied with 10.5 mt/y. That is what they applied for. Now that the mine is in place, MACH would like to mine 21mt/y. This indicates a strategic, and basically dishonest, application in 2018.

Tony Lonergan, Kayuga 2333

Yarraman Park Stud objects to the Mount Pleasant Optimisation Project