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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

  • Alistair Cheyne
    signed 2021-09-17 18:01:15 +1000
    Even a 5 year old knows that gas is a fossil fuel and Morrison’s " Gas- led Recovery " is environmentally and economically a total disaster. Just look at the catastrophic record of fracking in the USA.
  • Laraine Spindler
    signed 2021-09-17 17:07:51 +1000
  • Rae Jacobson
    signed 2021-09-17 16:50:21 +1000
  • Karen Neubauer
    signed 2021-09-17 16:47:48 +1000
    “Here we are, the most clever species ever to have lived. So how is it we can destroy the only planet we have?”

    JANE GOODALL


    “A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”

    FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
  • Mark Marusic
    signed 2021-09-17 16:45:33 +1000
  • Helen Johnston
    signed 2021-09-17 16:23:22 +1000
  • Anne Hamilton
    signed 2021-09-17 15:40:23 +1000
  • Robbin Binks
    signed 2021-09-17 15:09:38 +1000
  • Pamela de Lacy
    signed 2021-09-17 14:45:05 +1000
    Food is do important to Australia, please return this land for the farmers and our ecology. Thank you
  • Jane Crosskill
    signed 2021-09-17 14:32:19 +1000
  • Jean Ellis
    signed 2021-09-17 14:13:19 +1000
  • Stephanie Meggitt
    signed 2021-09-17 14:02:28 +1000
  • Nola Cooper
    signed 2021-09-17 13:52:31 +1000
  • Derek Finter
    signed 2021-09-17 13:31:12 +1000
  • Fiona Sim
    signed 2021-09-17 13:23:44 +1000
  • Darren Baguley
    signed 2021-09-17 12:53:41 +1000
  • Rae Norris
    signed 2021-09-17 12:50:51 +1000
  • Annabel Bucknall
    signed 2021-09-17 12:45:13 +1000
  • John Clarke
    signed 2021-09-17 12:27:15 +1000
  • Rosemary Hadaway
    signed 2021-09-17 12:10:40 +1000
  • James Buchanan
    signed 2021-09-17 12:01:01 +1000
  • Alison Muir
    signed 2021-09-17 11:32:47 +1000
    In Seoul a highway was demolished and the river that had been covered up for years in favour of cars was returned to the people. The environment is the soul of the land and lives in the hearts of people. It would be an honourable thing indeed to return the land to ensure clean water sources and farming can continue, without being affected by mining for a resource that contributes so harshly to climate change. Like the people of Seoul we also want to enjoy our rivers and valleys.
  • Graeme Gardiner
    signed 2021-09-17 11:32:29 +1000
  • Holly Bryant
    signed 2021-09-17 11:18:40 +1000
  • Pamela Sharp
    signed 2021-09-17 10:39:43 +1000
    Please give the farmers access to land. Transition away from coal to renewables is a better option as well.
  • Diane Handes
    signed 2021-09-17 10:18:39 +1000
  • Samar Singh
    signed 2021-09-17 10:15:09 +1000
  • Simon Chinner
    signed 2021-09-17 10:14:57 +1000
  • Elizabeth Bartlett
    signed 2021-09-17 10:10:04 +1000
  • Jody Sutherland
    signed 2021-09-17 09:50:38 +1000