Lock the Gate criticises mining project’s impact on emissions, environment

Environmental action group, the Lock the Gate Alliance, has criticised the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment for recommending the approval of Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri underground mine.

The department has passed on its recommendation to proceed with the development, referred to as the Narrabri stage three extension project.

However, the proposed mine extension has been referred to the Independent Planning Commission and will be subject to public submissions.

Following the publication of the department’s recommendation last week, Lock the Gate Alliance said the decision by the department to list the project as “approvable” comes despite media reports last year revealing department officials criticised Whitehaven’s application, and described the company’s predicted water impacts as “counterintuitive” and “inconsistent.”

Spokesperson for the organisation, Georgina Woods, said the expansion would mean this coal mine is responsible for the highest volume of direct and indirect carbon emissions of any coal project determined by the Independent Planning Commission to date.

“The department’s decision to recommend approval to this huge new source of greenhouse pollution is particularly infuriating because, for the first time, the department actually sought advice about the project’s carbon emissions,” she said.

“The department’s admission that New South Wales has no coherent policy about how to prevent and manage the greenhouse emissions of the state’s coal mines is damning, but that policy failure should not mean this damaging project gets waved through.

“The expansion would drain groundwater from a region that has only recently emerged from a devastating drought.

“It’s going to fuel climate change and contribute to droughts likely becoming more frequent and more intense in the North West.”

With the development now in the hands of the Independent Planning Commission, a public hearing will be held in relation to the project.

However, due to COVID-19 risks, such a hearing will be conducted remotely with registered speakers to talk via a teleconference or videoconference.

The public hearing will be broadcast live online.