The Hunter Valley is a rich and unique agricultural area, with diverse industries, a magnificent river system and endangered woodlands- but all that is at risk from coal mining.

The Hunter has been a mining region for two centuries, but in recent years, coal companies have expanded into more and more sensitive areas, hemming in villages with larger and larger mines, making more noise, more dust and driving out sustainable rural industries.

Air pollution has been worsening. Air quality regaularly breaches national standards and it is making people unwell. For as long as the mines are exempt from the state's polluter pays licencing scheme, it will be the community that bears the cost of this pollution.

More mine expansions are proposed in farmland and next to our towns, including:

• An expansion of the Mangoola mine in the pretty Wybong Valley, the population of which has already been dramatically reduced because of the air and noise pollution from the mine.
• An expansion of the Mount Pleasant mine which already looms over Muswellbrook, worsening air pollution in Muswellbrook and Aberdeen.

HUNTER RENEWAL

The communities of the Hunter region have sacrificed a lot for New South Wales’ prosperity, but want a plan for the region’s future beyond dependence on coal mining. Hunter Renewal is a project to bring people, businesses, and organisations of the Hunter Valley together to envision a diverse, resilient, and thriving future for our region. Read more about Hunter Renewal here.