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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?

Showing 30 reactions

  • Katrina Stomann
    signed 2021-09-14 17:50:51 +1000
  • Lynda Fletcher
    signed 2021-09-14 17:50:37 +1000
  • Alan Warild
    signed 2021-09-14 17:50:23 +1000
  • Patrick Eyre
    signed 2021-09-14 17:49:56 +1000
  • Gail Stubber
    signed 2021-09-14 17:49:55 +1000
    As a farmer , I understand the value of land for agriculture. But farming does not only grow food it also grows communities. having many farming families in an area benefits everyone. If you sell this back to the people of Belong then you will be helping build a community.

    We trust you to do the right thing.

    Kind regards
  • Clare McKay
    signed 2021-09-14 17:48:38 +1000
    Please leave our Bylong valley alone. Your plans will cause immense damage to the occupants and farmers, not to mention the climate damage it will cause to the planet.
  • Adele Mitchell
    signed 2021-09-14 17:48:27 +1000
  • Susan Brown
    signed 2021-09-14 17:47:34 +1000
    I feel very strongly that coal projects in general and this one in particular are detrimental to the future of the planet and all creatures on it. I endorse the statement that returning this land to agriculture will greatly benefit your company’s reputation, the amenity of the Bylong area, the native flora and fauna and particularly the necessary decrease in greenhouse emissions.

    I hope to hear that you have taken this approach very soon.
  • Joanne Wicks
    signed 2021-09-14 17:47:03 +1000
  • Les Johnston
    signed 2021-09-14 17:47:03 +1000
  • Dave Metzenthen
    signed 2021-09-14 17:46:43 +1000
  • Bobby George
    signed 2021-09-14 17:46:40 +1000
  • Barbara Bryan
    signed 2021-09-14 17:46:30 +1000
    Prime agiculltural land is of the utmost importance for food security due to climate change.
  • Susan Wilson
    signed 2021-09-14 17:46:28 +1000
  • Alan Hayward
    signed 2021-09-14 17:46:10 +1000
  • Georgie Huxtable
    signed 2021-09-14 17:46:00 +1000
    Please sell this land back to the agriculturalists who will farm it again, and hopefully re-establish the community which has been lost in the valley. We need Australian farmers producing food, not more coal mines. P,ease restore this land to the famers.
  • Rick Mcgregor
    signed 2021-09-14 17:45:52 +1000
  • Marie Morris
    signed 2021-09-14 17:45:50 +1000
    Agricultural land is so important as is water, mining destroys both and ads to climate change
  • Grahame King
    signed 2021-09-14 17:45:48 +1000
  • Ruth Skilbeck
    signed 2021-09-14 17:45:36 +1000
  • Paul Melverton
    signed 2021-09-14 17:45:06 +1000
    I think the polly involved with this should be jailed Gaoled??

    In my younger years I lived in Rylestone and know the Valley very well.

    Thank God for common sence
  • Helena Manos
    signed 2021-09-14 17:44:18 +1000
    How dare they try to ruin farms and agriculture with mines and water theft in 2021! Keep them out of our agriculture.
  • Warwick Tweedie
    signed 2021-09-14 17:44:13 +1000
  • Vanessa Blakeley
    signed 2021-09-14 17:44:13 +1000
  • Michael Streatfeild
    signed 2021-09-14 17:44:08 +1000
  • Suzy McLaren
    signed 2021-09-14 17:44:06 +1000
  • Nikki Heywood
    signed 2021-09-14 17:43:32 +1000
    So wonderful the NS Court of Appeals saw sense in making their decision.

    A great victory for the locals and for the planet.
  • susan Meyer
    signed 2021-09-14 17:43:19 +1000
    Land for the farming community not broad acre – those small towns need people who care not large multi-nationals
  • Meg Buchtmann
    signed 2021-09-14 17:43:15 +1000
  • Brian Brown
    signed 2021-09-14 17:42:56 +1000