Skip navigation

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

  • Elizabeth Middlebrook
    signed 2021-09-14 22:10:23 +1000
    Such a beautiful little valley. Please help rectify past issues, give it back to the farmers.
  • Alan Yuille
    signed 2021-09-14 22:08:34 +1000
    Encouraging Regenerative Agriculture and Carbon Farming at Bylong would give you great honour in forward thinking societies.
  • Ross Edmonds
    signed 2021-09-14 22:06:31 +1000
    Kepco, do the right thing.
  • Jeanette Thrussell
    signed 2021-09-14 22:04:23 +1000
    Please save our planet
  • Diane Salter
    signed 2021-09-14 22:02:47 +1000
  • Sheridan Adams
    signed 2021-09-14 22:02:39 +1000
  • Charlie Bell
    signed 2021-09-14 22:00:48 +1000
  • Frank Dennis
    signed 2021-09-14 21:57:11 +1000
  • John Hunt
    signed 2021-09-14 21:55:45 +1000
  • Virginia Cains
    signed 2021-09-14 21:54:32 +1000
  • Karen Speirs
    signed 2021-09-14 21:54:30 +1000
  • Jan King
    signed 2021-09-14 21:53:39 +1000
  • Julie Sheppard
    signed 2021-09-14 21:52:50 +1000
  • Gavin Imhof
    signed 2021-09-14 21:50:41 +1000
  • Belinda Wright
    signed 2021-09-14 21:49:27 +1000
  • Carol Iles
    signed 2021-09-14 21:48:58 +1000
    Good farmland does not grow on trees! Now this insanity of a mine is over, please let the land be farmed again.
  • Noel Billing
    signed 2021-09-14 21:46:22 +1000
  • Margaret Cooper
    signed 2021-09-14 21:46:05 +1000
    Better to build a better world than help it’s death by adding even one blow of the ‘thousand lashes’.
  • Glynn Stiller
    signed 2021-09-14 21:44:05 +1000
  • Nell Robertson
    signed 2021-09-14 21:43:21 +1000
    Check out this million jobs plan from BZE. It might have some alternatives you could be interested in.

    https://bze.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/BZE-The-Million-Jobs-Plan-Full-Report-2020.pdf
  • Bernadette Evans
    signed 2021-09-14 21:43:02 +1000
  • Angela Michaelis
    signed 2021-09-14 21:42:18 +1000
  • Michael Faulkner
    signed 2021-09-14 21:39:12 +1000
  • Helene Zampetakis
    signed 2021-09-14 21:36:25 +1000
  • Lesley Reilly
    signed 2021-09-14 21:36:06 +1000
  • Rob Baigent
    signed 2021-09-14 21:35:03 +1000
  • Susan Stevens
    signed 2021-09-14 21:35:02 +1000
  • Russ Hancock
    signed 2021-09-14 21:34:39 +1000
  • Denise Prowse
    signed 2021-09-14 21:34:34 +1000
  • Kerry Dacey
    signed 2021-09-14 21:33:47 +1000