Whitehaven coal and its many subsidiary companies are repeat offenders who repeatedly break the law without concern for the impacts on water resources, the environment or affected communities.

In the last 10 years Whitehaven has been found guilty or investigated for breaches of the law on 35 occasions, many of them including multiple offences. They have been prosecuted numerous times and have incurred $1,497,500 in penalties to date.

Offences including stealing 1 billion litres of water without a licence during the worst drought on record at the Maules Creek Coal mine, polluting waterways, breaching noise constraints, clearing illegally and serious workplace health and safety failures.

Their shameful record is evidence that they are not fit and proper to hold a licence to operate coal mines in NSW. 

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New analysis has revealed a staggering one-third of the land covered by “zombie” petroleum licences being brought back from the dead by the NSW Berejiklian Government is home to the best farming soils in the state.

About 400,000 hectares of what’s known as biophysical strategic agricultural land (BSAL) is contained within the roughly 1.1 million ha of coal seam gas tenements across the Upper Hunter, Liverpool Plains, and Namoi Valley, that the NSW Government plans to reinstate.

ORG will never be, and can never be, a preferred hydrocarbon company - so, shareholders would be better served if it sold its gas interests.

In this note we argue that the window for ORG to get set for a decent medium-term future is relatively narrow. It means selling cash-generative APLNG and the prospects such as they may be in the Beetaloo, and committing to a future that a majority of investors will reward more highly than oil and gas.

A new expert analysis reveals operational emissions produced from the eight major fossil fuel projects approved by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) since the authority was created will total nearly 90 million tonnes.

This is the same amount the NSW Government's Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap is expected to abate between now and 2030.

A new analysis of the region earmarked for release to coal mining in Central West NSW has revealed what could be lost if Berejiklian Government plans are successful.

Public consultation is now underway into the proposed release of land known as Hawkins and Rumker 160km north west of Sydney, with consultation over a third parcel - known as Ganguddy-Kelgoola still to come.

The 2019 Gas Statement of Opportunities (GSOO) and Victorian Gas Planning Reports (VGPR) prepared by AEMO flagged a gas supply shortfall from 2024 onwards due to:

•Falling production levels from existing southern gas fields

•Uncertainties around southern prospective resources (un-explored but estimated to exist) accessible by existing pipeline and processing infrastructure

•Moderately increasing gas demand, driven mainly by population growth driving new gas connections.

Read the expert report by Pegasus Economics exposing the fact that the Narrabri Gas Project will do nothing to bring down gas prices in NSW and is not needed.  

This damning October 2019 report reveals the extent of Santos' involvement in creating the high gas prices and gas market turmoil that is costing manufacturing jobs.

This new report by Professor Ian Lowe (BSc, NSW; DPhil, York, UK; DSc, NSW) looks at the potential climate impacts of proposed shale gas development in the Northern Territory.

The report shows that approving the proposed development of shale gas from the Beetaloo Sub-Basin or McArthur Basin would add very significantly to Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions in the critical period before 2030, when we are required by the Paris agreement to achieve significant reductions.

Read the full report here

A new report dramatically predicts that early action to diversify the economy and invest in regional development could ensure the Hunter Valley avoids the worst economic impacts of a decline in coal mining as the world acts on climate change.

The report, Weathering the storm: The case for transformation in the Hunter Valley, was written by researchers at the University of Western Sydney and commissioned by Lock the Gate.

November 04, 2018: A new report released by Lock the Gate estimates more than 1,200 new jobs could be generated in NSW if the state government was to implement mandatory progressive rehabilitation targets.

The Mind the Gap: how fixing mine rehabilitation shortfalls could fuel jobs growth in the Hunter Valley report exposes the major rehabilitation deficit plaguing NSW, which has left gaping holes in prime agricultural land in the Hunter Valley.