The NSW Minerals Council’s latest campaign attempting to discredit a recent decision by the Independent Planning Commission is an insult to farmers who are battling the drought, according to Lock the Gate Alliance.
The IPC recently ruled a controversial and destructive coal mine planned for the Bylong Valley should be rejected due to unacceptable impacts on groundwater, strategic agricultural land, and the heritage values of the Bylong Valley.
Phillip Kennedy, Bylong Valley farmer, said: "It is obscene that the NSW Minerals Council is running a campaign like this during an intense drought which doesn't look like ending any time soon.
"That's what the Independent Planning Commission understood: development must provide for future generations not short change them
"It's common sense that there are some places where open cut coal mining is not appropriate and our most fertile farmland is one of them."