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Make Coal Giants Pay for Mine Clean-Up
Our new report – Abandoned Mines in Queensland: Toxic Time-bomb or Employment Opportunity? – calls for big mining companies to cover the cost of rehabilitating the State’s abandoned mines and estimates that this would generate 6000 jobs in regional Queensland!
There are too many large abandoned mines, and the full cost of cleaning them up is too large and should not fall on taxpayers. If mines are levied to pay for the clean up, they can also create jobs in the process.
Why should we miss out on hundreds of schools and hospitals because we’re footing the bill for the mess left behind by irresponsible mining companies?
References:
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Dodging clean up costs Six tricks coal mining companies play (pdf)
- Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry Report (pdf)
- ACF Mine Rehab Stories
- Abandoned Mines in Queensland Report
- NSW Coal Pit Legacy
- Mine Rehab Closure Cost Report
- Rhetoric Vs Reality. Rehab performance snapshot
Add signatureWe call on the NSW and Queensland Premiers to strengthen weak mining laws and force companies to honour their obligations to rehabilitate their mines. The following needs to be done:
- Increase the required deposit to cover rehabilitation costs
- Require all future mines to backfill their mining pits and protect water resources
- Establish an independent authority to monitor and enforce mine rehabilitation
- Penalise companies who breach rehabilitation requirements.
Together we can ensure that the mining industry is held to account and that our land and water resources are protected against abandoned mines.
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Will you take a stand?
The NSW Planning Assessment Commission has handed in its latest report on Rio's plan to expand the Warkworth coal mine, and it's a disaster. Even though Bulga residents have twice proven in court that expanding the mine would do more harm than good - not just for their community, but for all NSW - the PAC has recommended it be approved. The Commission ignored a mountain of evidence that Rio's coal mine would make Bulga unliveable, ruin an irreplaceable bushland ecosystem, and desecrate the cultural heritage of the Wonnarua people. They ignored expert advice that the economics of the project don't stack up. They listened to Rio Tinto, and they ignored everyone else.
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It's almost certain now that Rio will get their mine approval. Without a dramatic intervention in the approval process, the rest is mere formality. The Planning Department will issue another report recommending approval, and then the PAC will close the deal. It's likely to happen by Christmas.
But we've been fighting this coal mine for over five years, and we're not about to give up now. The courts delivered us justice in 2013, but our state's unfair mine approval regime is set to take it away again. NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes still has the power to intervene and save Bulga, and we're demanding that he do just that.
Will you join us? Some time in the next couple of weeks, the NSW Planning Department will again recommend approval for Rio. We want to use that opportunity to show Minister Stokes that the people of NSW want justice for Bulga, not more coal. We'll be taking action outside the Supreme Court, Phillip St, Sydney - where we won our case - the morning after the Department's report is released. We need our Sydney supporters to be standing there with us.
Sign up below with your mobile number and we'll text you the details of our protest as soon as the Department issues its report. We'll see you the next morning outside the NSW Supreme Court.
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Koko Clark posted about The Bulga Declaration on Facebook 2015-12-05 17:53:34 +1100The Bulga Declaration: stand with Wonnarua people and the village of Bulga against Rio Tinto.
The Bulga Declaration
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We, the undersigned, make this promise: we will not allow the Warkworth mine to destroy Saddle Ridge and the Warkworth Sands, nor the village of Bulga.
Saddle Ridge and the Warkworth Sands harbour woodlands and wildlife that are vanishing from the Hunter Valley due to open cut coal mining. The area is an ancient pathway and place of harmony, protection, and direction for Wonnarua people. It shields the village of Bulga from noise and dust rising from the super pits of Rio Tinto's Mount Thorley-Warkworth mine. For the Wonnarua, the people of Bulga, and the wildlife, Saddle Ridge and the Warkworth Sands are home; protecting and guiding them. Such things cannot be compensated for. They cannot be sold, or replaced.
The NSW government may have signed the death warrant for Warkworth Sands and the village of Bulga, but the people have not. The government and Rio Tinto are colluding against us, but we are united and we will not be subdued.
The highest courts in New South Wales have rejected the Warkworth mine expansion for the same reasons we reject it. By siding with Rio Tinto to subvert the people’s victory in court, the government has crossed a line. Now we are the ones that will uphold fairness, protect the ridge and restore faith in organised community.
We stand with the village of Bulga and Wonnarua traditional owners. We pledge to them that we will use all peaceful means to help them protect community and culture from the Warkworth coal mine.
The Declaration is endorsed by:
- Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association
- Kevin Taggart, Wonnarua traditional owner.
- Hunter Valley Protection Alliance
- Hunter Valley Wine Industry Tourism Association
- Broke Fordwich Wine & Tourism Association
- Lock The Gate Alliance
- Our Land Our Water Our Future
You can add your name by filling in the form below.