The Chief Justice of the NSW Land and Environment Court has this afternoon overturned a previous court decision and found in favour of 5 landholders in the Southern Highland who have been fighting to prevent a coal company from exploring on their properties.
Peter Martin from Coal Free Southern Highlands said “This is an incredibly significant decision for myself and 4 other landholders. It means that we have the right to reject coal exploration which will damage significant improvements on our land.
“We have been fighting for six years to prevent our highly developed farms and the vital water resources that lie beneath them from being destroyed by coal exploration and mining.
“This decision today is a body blow to the South Korean-owned company, Hume Coal, which no longer has the right to enter our lands if they are going to impinge on significant improvements on our properties.
“We believe this will be the death knell for their ill-considered mining project, which is completely inappropriate in a key part of Sydney’s drinking water catchment and one of the most historic and picturesque parts of NSW.
“This decision finally restores a semblance of balance to a planning system which gives big miners special treatment and which bullies and intimidates landholders into giving access.
“We’d like to thank our Senior Counsel, Mr Bret Walker, and our full legal team for their extraordinary hard work and commitment to deliver this outcome” he said.
Phil Laird from Lock the Gate Alliance said “The decision today by Justice Preston sets a vital and long-awaited precedent for landholders across NSW.
“Coal miners no longer have a god given right to unrestricted access to your property – there are some legal constraints and you can prevent miners from impacting on significant improvements on your property” he said.
High quality stills of the area available here.
Background Facts
- Hume Coal is proposing to use an experimental underground mining plan called ‘Pine Feather’ if approval is given.
- The company’s own documents concede it will drawdown water from the pristine aquifer system underlying the area by up to 90 metres and affect an area of over 300 square kms, draining landowners’ bores in the process. Hundreds of landowners and many businesses in the area will be affected.
- The company plans to pump toxic mining rejects in a slurry back into the mined out voids, right under the aquifer itself. This risks polluting the groundwater for generations to come and creates a potential health hazard.
- A massive coal stockpile will be within 4kms of the historic township of Berrima, creating health risks for residents from dangerous coal dust.
- Hume Coal has been running an aggressive legal campaign for over over four years, attempting to force landowners in Sutton Forest to allow them to drill on some of the most highly developed properties in NSW.
