The Bengalla Continuation Project will not be determined by the Planning Assessment Commission but by Carolyn McNally, the Secretary of the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, under delegation from the Minister.
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The PAC must report back by January 23, 2015.
Voices against Bengalla’s planned expansion were few and far between at the Muswellbrook public hearing, but those who spoke tried to drill down into the proposed consent conditions.
Landholder Bruce Bates told Commissioners Bengalla's Clean Water 1 Dam (CW.1 Dam) would hold 900 megalitres of water that would be pumped to a height of 100 metres and discharged in the direction of the Hunter River at a rate of 1000 litres per second through a poly pipe sitting on top of the ground.
He said it had safety implications because the dam sat above the pit, had a catchment of more than 600 hectares and had not been tried before at any other open-cut mine.
Bruce Bates also told the hearing he believed the dam would be subject to regular vibration from mine blasting which could impact its structural integrity.
John Shewan, from the Wybong Action Group, did not spare the horses.
He told the hearing he found it objectionable the mining industry and affiliated companies had been given so much time to speak at the PAC hearing when most speakers were not addressing the PAC’s consent conditions.
John Shewan said the Bengalla Continuation Project had no specifications for fine dust particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres.
“I love here how people are so concerned for their wallet but what about the health of your own children,” he told the hearing, “what about the PM2.5 dust that’s going to affect their heart and lungs and the lead that’s going to affect their IQ,” he said?
Mr Shewan also said he was worried about groundwater infiltration, downstream impacts, what he described as a “wholesale usurping of landowners’ rights,” rising overburden dumps and Wybong residents having to travel further to Muswellbrook as Bengalla interfered with link roads during mine construction.
Roxburgh Road horse breeder Ernest Markham, 75, described what it was like for he and his wife caught in a virtual Bermuda triangle of increasing dust, night lighting and 24-hour noise, especially from coal trains, between three open-cut mines operated by Rio Tinto’s Bengalla, BHP Billiton’s Mt Arthur and Glencore’s Mangoola.
He also warned the Commissioners about birth defects he had witnessed for the first time in two of his horses, saying they had been born with a malformation in the nose which had never occurred in the 57 years he had been breeding horses on the banks of the Hunter River from Maitland to Muswellbrook.
The 19 supporters of the Bengalla Continuation Project told the Planning Assessment Commission the project’s approval is critical.
“I speak on behalf of our 175 members and 300 businesses and note Bengalla’s current employment of 400 people and the possibility of that employment going to 900 people and the contribution of over $700,000 to community-based sponsorship programs by Bengalla since 1998 ... The mine has operated over the past 16 years with minimal impact and positive economic and social benefits for Muswellbrook and the surrounding areas.”
- Mike Kelly, President, Muswellbrook Chamber of Commerce and Industry
“As an employee of Bengalla I’ve witnessed our site stop production on numerous occasions to limit impacts to our neighbours when conditions are not ideal ... The safety and well-being of our employees is considered above all else and our apprenticeship program employs four new apprentices each year.”
- Russell Hartin, Field Maintenance Superintendent, Bengalla
“We are a local business that relies on the mining sector for 92 per cent of our income ... As a supplier to the mining industry we employ 54 people and over 4000 Hunter businesses are dependent on the mining industry, fuel stations, hairdressers and event the takeaway provide goods and services to the employees of Bengalla and other mines.”
- Aaron Goadsby, General Manager, Pit Patrol
“The downturn in the mining sector in the last 18 months has seen the housing market fall to the lowest recorded number of property transactions in my 19 years as a real estate agent ... In the last quarter there were 28 residential transactions in the Muswellbrook town and before the boom there were 85 to 90 residential property transactions in Muswellbrook per quarter, so it’s down two-thirds.”
- Sandy Warburton, Estate Agent, John Flood Real Estate
“Each year for the past 16 years Bengalla has assisted us to provide our services by donating to us ... They fully pay for us to supply a qualified instructor to provide fitness and well-being services to many of our disabled clients, as well as people who have MS and strokes, and people recovering from cancer.”
- De-anne Douglas, Manager, Muswellbrook PCYC
“SubZero has been engaged on the site at Bengalla in a variety of roles these being rehabilitation programs, beautification, road maintenance, noise monitoring and production roles ... We have a current workforce of over 100 employees at Bengalla and we see the expansion of Bengalla project as ensuring the future of the SubZero Group which has an overall workforce of 420.”
- Gary Brown, SubZero Group
“Mining brings approximately $1.2 billion to the region and up to 230 suppliers would currently be supported by Bengalla ... Along with this it is my understanding that 40 per cent of $80 million is spent locally and more than 90 per cent are employed from the local regions.”
- Ryan Fitzpatrick, Singleton Business Chamber