BY ALICE PEART
Australian company Malabar Coal
has lodged their Environmental Impact Statement for a new mine in the Hunter
Valley, shifting plans from an open cut mine to an underground site.
The shift occurred in response to backlash from the
community, primarily over concerns for the impact on farmland and the
internationally renown thoroughbred studs bordering on the site.
Although Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon has said he's confident
the company will adhere to strict environmental regulations, the company was
fined just in March this year by the EPA after they were found to have
discharged six million litres of polluted water in the Hunter Valley's
Saltwater Creek.
The Environmental Impact
Statement also shows the proposed mine, located near Muswellbrook, is home to
295 First Nation sites containing archaeological artefacts. The statement
proposes cataloguing and preservation measures according to Native Title and
Heritage Protection acts - but their economic summary demonstrates they
have allocated no money in their budget under the category of Aboriginal
Heritage.
Plans for the site by former
owners were repeatedly knocked back but Malabar Coal say they are confident
their submission is "vastly different from past
proposals for the site" in response to concerns over noise, threats to air
quality and visual impacts.
