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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

  • Kevin Sweeney
    signed 2021-09-15 13:45:07 +1000
  • Bob Rich
    signed 2021-09-15 13:44:48 +1000
  • Phillip Ward
    signed 2021-09-15 13:44:41 +1000
  • Caroline De Jongh
    signed 2021-09-15 13:44:10 +1000
  • Wendy Condon
    signed 2021-09-15 13:43:34 +1000
  • Pam Massey
    signed 2021-09-15 13:36:30 +1000
    I agree with & totally support this letter. Coal is a no-brainer. Everyone but Morrisons Gov seems to get that…..

    Agriculture, on the other hand, provides us with food to keep us alive, either directly or indirectly (ie livestock).

    Our planet is in enough of a mess. We need some common-sense GOOD happening now. Life is not all about money.

    We need a CLEAN, HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE FUTURE for your kids, my kids, and everyone else’s kids, & we need people at the top making these life threatening decisions on our behalf who have COMMON SENSE and a COMMON SENSE OF DECENCY.

    Where are they!!! 😱
  • Jan O'Leary
    signed 2021-09-15 13:35:27 +1000
    Everyone needs to eat but fewer and fewer need coal. It is time to accept coal is dead.
  • Kelly Haines
    signed 2021-09-15 13:34:39 +1000
  • Rick Madigan
    signed 2021-09-15 13:33:49 +1000
  • Louise Glynn
    signed 2021-09-15 13:21:06 +1000
  • Beverley Atkinson
    signed 2021-09-15 13:15:11 +1000
    KEPCO will then be recognised for flexibility and listening to community. That is a good turnaround, one to make South Korea proud.
  • Clinton Borchers
    signed 2021-09-15 13:10:50 +1000
  • Leanne Davis
    signed 2021-09-15 13:07:39 +1000
  • Barbara Levick
    signed 2021-09-15 13:04:36 +1000
  • Bernadette Allen
    signed 2021-09-15 13:02:07 +1000
  • Sher Canny
    signed 2021-09-15 12:54:14 +1000
    Please do the right and honourable thing
  • Jan and Keith Roberts
    signed 2021-09-15 12:49:00 +1000
    The best solution of all parties.
  • Roberta Martin
    signed 2021-09-15 12:47:20 +1000
  • Lindy Smith
    signed 2021-09-15 12:44:33 +1000
  • Barvara Hush
    signed 2021-09-15 12:43:32 +1000
  • Alison Rodway
    signed 2021-09-15 12:42:10 +1000
  • Brian Thomas
    signed 2021-09-15 12:40:35 +1000
  • Shane Corcoran
    signed 2021-09-15 12:35:01 +1000
  • Katy Pickering
    signed 2021-09-15 12:33:13 +1000
  • Peter Warburton
    signed 2021-09-15 12:32:13 +1000
  • Cheryl Sharma
    signed 2021-09-15 12:31:52 +1000
    Please allow our farmers the right to farm their lands without stress and anxiety by relinquishing the exploration lease. The world is moving away from coal and acknowledging the value of renewable energy.

    We also need to value and take care of our natural world – again that means leaving fossil fuels in the ground where they belong.
  • Angela Nilsen
    signed 2021-09-15 12:31:07 +1000
  • Carolyn Marriott
    signed 2021-09-15 12:28:34 +1000
  • David Saunders
    signed 2021-09-15 12:23:53 +1000
  • Ann Finegan
    signed 2021-09-15 12:15:01 +1000
    Please help to reinstate this precious and innovative farming community of Bylong by selling the land back to local agriculturalists. Bylong Valley is home of natural sequence farming, so critical in developing methods in drought-proof farming and restoring health to the land. Thanking you in advance.