KEPCO Open Letter

Can you help us get the ear of the KEPCO CEO? We're calling on him to sell the land back for agriculture so our community can rebuild. Will you join us?

Phill Kennedy, President, Bylong Valley Protection Alliance

Dear Cheong Seung-il, CEO, KEPCO,

Today the NSW Court of Appeal ruled against KEPCO on appeal which means that the proposed Bylong coal project cannot proceed.

We, the undersigned, are calling on you to respond by relinquishing the exploration lease for the project and selling the land back to agricultural interests. We can see no valid basis for KEPCO to continue with the project.

The Bylong proposal is beset by severe environmental, social and economic risks. There is fierce and widespread opposition to the project in Australia and both of KEPCO’s legal challenges have failed.

It is also a legacy project planned and conceived many years ago that now has no place given the energy transformation that is underway.

South Korea’s new electricity plan - finalised in December 2020 - will see thermal coal consumption drop by almost 19 million tonnes per annum by 2030. The Bylong coal project is inconsistent with this Green New Deal that is underway.

We note that KEPCO has advised the Korean Government that they have recently had an offer for purchase of the land from agricultural interests.

In order to avoid sinking yet more large sums of money into a stranded asset that will besmirch KEPCO’s reputation, we encourage you to relinquish the exploration lease and enable the land to be returned to agriculture and nature conservation.

Regenerative agriculture and carbon farming at Bylong would provide a global climate benefit that would be a credit to KEPCO.

Please act now to relinquish the exploration lease and enable the local community to rebuild around a new, clean future.

Will you sign?

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Showing 30 reactions

Sinead Francis-Coan signed 2021-09-14 19:36:35 +1000
Michelle Roadley signed 2021-09-14 19:34:48 +1000
Ian McCarthy signed 2021-09-14 19:33:48 +1000

Bylong valley is for farms and families.
Judith Arthy signed 2021-09-14 19:32:01 +1000
Lynette Chamas signed 2021-09-14 19:30:56 +1000

Neither the Federal Government nor the State Government should allow any foreign acquisition of the Bylong lands. They should be purchased back from KEPCO by the NSW government and returned to the locals, who should never have had to go through this battle. Gladys Berejiklian has an opportunity here to repair, in some measure, the massive hit to her government that has come from a public fed up with climate change and politicians who are pathetically unwilling to do anything about it.
Carol Bennett signed 2021-09-14 19:30:20 +1000
Dora Evans signed 2021-09-14 19:29:43 +1000
Kaye Cook signed 2021-09-14 19:29:00 +1000
Nick Abel signed 2021-09-14 19:28:33 +1000
Sue Nakkan signed 2021-09-14 19:27:23 +1000
Liz Macdougall signed 2021-09-14 19:27:21 +1000

Please also note that the United Nations has stated that Australia is expected to be free of coal production by 2030.
Richard Leech signed 2021-09-14 19:27:11 +1000
Diana Lyons signed 2021-09-14 19:26:59 +1000
Dianne Schahinger signed 2021-09-14 19:26:13 +1000

Please do the right thing by the local community and sell back the land so they can rebuild their lives after 11 years of fighting to protect their livelihoods.
David Kelly signed 2021-09-14 19:26:04 +1000
Maree Kimberley signed 2021-09-14 19:25:14 +1000
David Chiffey signed 2021-09-14 19:23:54 +1000
Elisabeth Brasseur signed 2021-09-14 19:21:48 +1000

Local farmers should never have been dislodged from the Bylong Valley in the first place, therefore all the properties should be returned to the community who will manage the land in a sustainable way.

Such a beautiful valley. It never deserved to be mined in the 1st place. Now we don’t want the land to go to big farming interests, who in the same way would destroy the acquifer.

The future of the planet is at stake here.

We hope you will make the right decision.
kathryn lai signed 2021-09-14 19:20:40 +1000
Nerida Riley signed 2021-09-14 19:20:15 +1000
Leotien Parlevliet signed 2021-09-14 19:19:35 +1000
Sally Forsstrom signed 2021-09-14 19:19:26 +1000
Felicity Jefferson signed 2021-09-14 19:19:21 +1000
Sophia Platthy signed 2021-09-14 19:19:14 +1000
Campbell Griffin signed 2021-09-14 19:17:52 +1000

Do the right thing.
Judith Lawson signed 2021-09-14 19:17:45 +1000
Ian Oxenford signed 2021-09-14 19:13:35 +1000
Anne Webb signed 2021-09-14 19:11:38 +1000
Dan Katz signed 2021-09-14 19:11:03 +1000
Noretta Terry signed 2021-09-14 19:09:44 +1000

Small communities, like the people in the Bylong Valley, are so important to the viable fabric of the world in which we live. We all suffer if we keep polluting the Earth on which we all live, and coal not only pollutes, it adds to global warming.