SHENHUA has promised it will not be “resting on its laurels” with the community if its Watermark Coal Project on the Liverpool Plains is approved.
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At the Planning Assessment Commission public meeting in Gunnedah yesterday, Shenhua Australia chairman Liu Xiang told the panel, and about 100 attendees, the project had been subject to “unprecedented levels of scrutiny”.
He said Shenhua was proud of its environmental record, and had gone out of its way to ensure minimal impact on farmers.
“China is also a farming country,” Mr Xiang said.
“We have 750 million farmers. We understand the special connection between farmers and their work. There is a special legacy in this region and it must be protected.”
Mr Xiang was the first speaker at the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) public meeting, which is the final stage in the five-year Watermark approval process.
The meeting was extended from one to two days following extensive public interest.
PAC panel chairwoman Lynelle Briggs told the audience at the Gunnedah Services and Bowling Club the meeting was to hear the public’s views about the addendum to the PAC assessment report.
“We, as a team of people, are quite aware that there are very strong views about this proposal in the community,” Ms Briggs said.
She said the panel’s decision, expected to be made before January 20, would be based on reason, information and public interest.
The Watermark Coal Project has been in the planning for five years and, if approved, will be the 10th-largest mine in NSW.
The meeting is the second PAC hearing in Gunnedah, with hundreds joining a protest march ahead of the first hearing in June.
There was no protest ahead of yesterday’s meeting, but those opposed to the mine have already made a number of emotional pleas to the panel.
Rosemary Nankivell, from the women’s group SOS Liverpool Plains, spoke against the coal project, with SOS members around the room taking their turn to voice their objections.
Mrs Nankivell said the project was “the wrong mine in the wrong place”.
SOS members raised concerns about damage to the water aquifer, the impact on surrounding farms and farmers, devaluation of property and a range of other issues.
Former independent politician Tony Windsor had been scheduled to have his say about groundwater yesterday, but has been rescheduled as the meeting continues today.
Mr Windsor has said the mine poses a risk to vital groundwater.
If approved, the Shenhua Watermark Coal Project will mine for 30 years, employing up to 600 workers at peak production.
Shenhua Watermark project manager Paul Jackson said ahead of the meeting yesterday Shenhua had shown “unequivocally” that the project struck the right balance between providing economic and social benefits and ensuring valuable agricultural production continued.
– Namoi Valley Independent