Bylong Valley coal mine that would have provided 1,100 jobs was blocked by environmentalists

REVEALED: New coal mine that would have provided 1,100 jobs to hard-pressed families is scrapped after green activists from Sydney’s north shore sent 2,530 objection letters

  • The multi-million-dollar Bylong Valley coal mine was to generate $300 million  
  • City-based residents sent thousands of objection notes from over 250km away
  • The project was put on hold by an independent planning commission last year

The construction of a controversial coal mine has been blocked after planners received a series of objection letters from city-based environmental activists.

The multi-million-dollar Bylong Valley coal mine was commissioned by Korean company Kepco, which claimed the mine, north-east of Mudgee, would generate $300million for the New South Wales economy and create 1,100 jobs. 

After a large amount of opposition from the community, the project was given to the  NSW Independent Planning Commission for review in October last year.

But today it was revealed the project’s demise came after a spate of complaints by residents of Sydney’s northern beaches, 250 kilometres away from the proposed mine site. 

The multi-million-dollar Bylong Valley coal mine was commissioned by Korean company Kepco, which claimed the mine, north-east of Mudgee, would generate $300 million for the New South Wales economy and create 1,100 jobs

Out of 3,193 comments to the commission, 2,530 objections came from Lane Cove Coal and Gas Watch, The Daily Telegraph reported.

‘These people should not be allowed to comment on something that is not on their doorstep,’ Mid-West Regional Council mayor Des Kennedy said.

‘People here want those jobs, but at the public meetings they were bussing in activists from all over the place.’

While 350 submissions received by the commission were largely objections, most of them came from people living more than 60 kilometres away.

Lane Cove Bushland and Conservation Society vice-president Ron Gornall said the  environmental group maintain their objections.

‘Our group was opposed to the mine … like a lot of environmental groups, we look at other areas,’ he said.

None of the 14 government agencies consulted objected to the construction of the mine.

While the commission acknowledged the economic benefits the mine would bring, they also said it was not an ecologically sustainable development, ABC reported.

Today it was revealed part of the project's demise was due to a spate of complaints by residents of Sydney's northern beaches, 250 kilometres away from the proposed mine site

Today it was revealed part of the project’s demise was due to a spate of complaints by residents of Sydney’s northern beaches, 250 kilometres away from the proposed mine site

‘The commission found the mine’s predicted air quality, biodiversity, noise, subsidence and visual impacts are acceptable and/or can be effectively managed or mitigated,’the commission said in its determination.

‘It raised significant concern about other longer-lasting environmental impacts.’

‘The predicted economic benefits would accrue to the present generation but the long-term environmental, heritage and agricultural costs will be borne by the future generations.’

Kepco began working on the project in  2010 and construction was supposed to start this year. 

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