The Federal member for Wyong has called on the State Government to ban all coal mining in the region.
Dobell Federal Labor MP Craig Thomson said the government must legislate “to stop coal mining once and for all in the valleys of Wyong Shire”, according to the Express Advocate.
“Mr OFarrell made a clear promise that he would stop the mine if elected but this promise must be backed by legislation now,” Thomson said.
“Otherwise we will see time and money wasted because the community will again have to fight this coal mine plan and again prove that our water supply must be protected.”
These calls come on the back of the rejection of the proposed Wallarah 2 Coal Mine.
The mine, located north of Wyong on the central coast, was rejected due to “unresolved concerns” regarding water impacts, subsidence under Wyong state forest, ecological and heritage impacts.
According to the Department of Planning the “project was not considered consistent with the principles of ecologically sustainable development”.
Planning Minister Tony Kelly stated that “the reality is, despite a lengthy and rigorous assessment, there remained simply too much uncertainty about the mine’s potential risks and, as such, I have decided the mine should not be approved”.
The mine had also been labelled dangerous by the area director of public health.
The senior public health official for the region, Dr. Peter Lewis, put forward a submission to the NSW Planning Department that the pollution had been underestimated and would ”produce increased respiratory symptoms and morbidity among residents”.
Kores, which would have run the mine, responded to the claims, saying that “detailed assessment by air quality specialists concludes that there will be no significant impact on the local air quality, and that the project will meet all current dust emission criteria and the assessment has included cumulative impacts from other dust sources in the region”.
Speaking to Australian Mining, Wallarah 2 director Peter Hayes said the company is currently “reviewing the statements by the Government, and hasn’t given up on the mine yet”.