Your Letters: Mining in the catchments
The Government Treasury department has predicted that our coal exports will drop by 50% by 2030. How does keeping coal open until 2050 fit into this equation?
Retired coal miner Darryl Best is a renewable jobs advocate and an op ed writer for The Illawarra Flame. After the Flame's May article 'Nannas rock Gong with protest songs’, Darryl wrote to us with a rebuttal to a statement provided by Wollongong MP Paul Scully, the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.
Mr Scully's statement came a day after protestors gathered outside his Wollongong office to call on the government to stop coal mining in drinking water catchments across the Sydney basin. The minister's full response can be read at the end of this story.
An abridged version of Darryl's letter was published in the Flame's July print magazine.
A rebuttal
By Darryl Best
Paul Scully's comment that the NSW Coal Industry 2026-50 balances energy security with the need to reduce emissions is hard to agree with. The last coal-fired power station, Mount Piper, will close around 2037. Our six major export countries for coal have all announced they are moving to clean energy sources. The Government Treasury department has predicted that our coal exports will drop by 50% by 2030.
How does keeping coal open until 2050 fit into this equation?
He also said that “a small group of Greens Political Party members and local activists with long-held beliefs on mining” gathered. This is a disturbing statement on a few counts.
Firstly, he has completely ignored that the protest was about mining under the Sydney Water catchment area. Is he implying that his government is not concerned about the quality of and the need to protect our water supply? Is his government willing to play Russian roulette with our water supply?
Secondly, are his beliefs that all mining is good no matter where it is conducted? He has put coal mining and lowering emissions in the same sentence. I am not sure how that quite works given his government acknowledged that coal mining increases the effect of climate change.
Thirdly, there were people in attendance from the coal industry and unions.
Mr Scully also said that “the statement on coal ends all greenfield coal mines in NSW…” He personally made a commitment before the last election that every coal mine extension or development would go before the Independent Planning Commission (IPC). To date the Labor government have approved 10 coal mine extensions, or words to that effect, but only one of those has gone to the IPC. Does that also mean we cannot trust a single commitment from this government? I am hoping that isn’t the case.
He also stated that, “In the Illawarra metallurgical coal plays a vital role in Australia’s sovereign steel making capability which is needed to support housing growth and the renewable energy roll-out which has accelerated under the Minns Government.”
The fact that metallurgical coal is required for steel making is true. The Port Kembla steelworks uses 1.7 million tonnes of coal each year to produce steel. Last year Metropolitan Mine and Dendrobium Mine produced 1.7 million tonnes and 3.5 million tonnes of coal respectively. Both mines supply coal to the Port Kembla steelworks. Why is mining under the Woronora Dam catchment so vital that it will risk our water supply when Dendrobium Mine can supply the metallurgical coal required, as can many mines in the Hunter region?
Mr Scully’s next point is perhaps the most misleading. “The Minns government … is trying to establish the Future Jobs and Investment Authority to support workers in coal-producing regions. Unfortunately this legislation is stuck and unable to progress through the NSW upper house because of political manouevring by the Greens, Coalition and independents.”
This could be a great piece of legislation. A group of people representing the four coal regions met with many members of parliament to get amendments to this Act that would ensure that it would be used as intended. To the government's credit, there were 14 amendments made to this Act. The reason it is stuck in the upper house is because the government refused to agree to including consideration of climate change or the environment, even for rehabilitation of mine sites, when considering what should happen with redundant mine sites. This is from a government that states that they are moving mountains to get to net zero.
I understand that Mr Scully may have been unaware of the gathering. I am also very disappointed that he failed to address what the rally was about and also it sounded like he was trying to belittle or trivialise the people who were there outside his office.
To write a Letter to the Editor, please use the digital contact form, write to PO Box 248, Helensburgh NSW 2508 or subscribe to be a Friend of the Flame and submit comments on articles.
