Mining company Centennial Coal has agreed to pay almost $1.5 million towards an environmental research program after its operation near Lithgow was found to have harmed local swamplands.

Here's the Department's media release.

After two years of litigation, the Blue Mountains Conservation Society has reached a settlement with Delta Electricity regarding water pollution in the Coxs River. Here's a joint statement.

In June 2009 the Society instigated legal action against Delta Electricity over alleged pollution in the upper Coxs River below Wallerawang Power Station.

This followed Streamwatch testing by BMCS/LEG members showing salinity, phosphate, turbidity and temperature at levels higher than natural background levels.

The water was then independently tested by Dr Ian Wright from UWS revealing aluminium, arsenic, copper, nickel, zinc, boron and fluoride in the water.

Here's the full story.

In a statement in 19th October's Blue Mountains Gazette, the Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Mr Luke Foley states that the ALP is "opposed to open-cut mining in the Ben Bullen State Forest".

Here's a copy of the article as a pdf.

URGENT ALERT FOR NCC MEMBER GROUPS re the NSW Review of planning legislation

Please note the following dates for consultation for Western Sydney, Central & Eastern Sydney and the South Coast & South West.

For more information on the NSW Planning review you can visit planningreview.nsw.gov.au

You can also access a briefing note from the Environmental Defenders Office at www.edo.org.au/edonsw/site/papers.php

In April LEG volunteers discovered 800 previously unrecorded Persoonia marginata (Clandulla Geebung) plants in Ben Bullen SF.

It is listed as Vulnerable under the TSC Act and EPBC Act.

The other main population is in Clandulla SF near Kandos about 50 km to the north.

There is nothing more exciting for a plant buff than to find a new population of an endangered species, but this find was quickly tainted because the plants were in the path of the fast approaching Cullen Valley Mine, and current NSW Threatened Species Legislation cannot protect them from open-cut mining.

OEH have been advised ... watch this space...

Here's the NPWS profile of Persoonia marginata.

A joint Blue Mountains Conservation Society and Lithgow Environment Group media release.

The Sydney Catchment Audit 2010 confirms that the power stations and mines have contributed to high salinity and heavy metals in our waterways.  read more here

Have people heard? A major open cut mining project is being proposed to come to this area. The Coalpac Consolidation Project has submitted an application for the creation of a large open cut mine along the western edge of the Ben Bullen State Forest - on the road towards Mudgee. Pine Dale Mine's Yarraboldy extension is also proposed to be open cut.

So what? Well think about the Hunter Valley. This was once a very picturesque place but now increasingly looks more like an industrial wasteland. Is this what we would like to see happen in our region?

Underground mines create significant environmental effects at the surface - such as with surface cracks that swallow watercourses (and thus cut off the life lines of the environments that depend on them) and cliff collapses. However the impact on the surface of an open cut mine is total - impacts that would create scars for centuries.

We live in one of the natural heritage wonderlands of Australia - as the region's World Heritage listing acknowledges. Do we really want to turn this area into an industrial wasteland? Should open cut mining be made a 'line in the sand' in this region that new mines should not be allowed to cross?

I think we can do better - even with the mines. As the recently gazetted Mugii Murum-ban (Mt Airly- Genowlan Mtn) State Conservation Area attests, it is possible to achieve good conservation outcomes along with mining. The bord and pillar mining technique that Centennial Coal are using in this area causes significantly less surface impacts - and is a case of where mining and environmental benefits can co-exist. Unfortunately with open cut mines this is not feasible.

When mining has ceased in this region - as it will in the not too distant future - what do we want left? What do we want for our region - a mined wasteland or a landscape that offers the scope of finding alternate forms of employment for our community in a region of natural abundance?

If you are concerned then read further information about these proposals at the Dept. of Planning's website - and consider writing a submission to the Dept of Planning about such a development in this region:
Email: coalandgasstrategy@planning.nsw.gov.au or
Post:
Coal and Gas Strategy
Department of Planning
GPO Box 39 SYDNEY NSW 2001
Submissions need to be in by 15th April.

Otherwise voice your opinion to the next local State Member or the next NSW Planning Minister.

Sincerely,
Richard Stiles
Hartley

The workshop will provide an overview of some of the key laws governing mining in NSW, the planning and environmental law framework in which decisions are made, public participation in this process, and other useful information. It will also look at the new process for making local environmental plans (LEPs) and the contents of the standard instrument.

The Environmental Defender's Office Ltd, (EDO), is a not-for-profit community legal centre specialising in public interest environmental law. They help individuals and community groups who are working to protect the natural and built environment. You can go to their website to find out more about the workshop.

Whilst the flyer asks for RSVP's to go to the EDO, could RSVP's also be CC'd to the President of Lithgow Environment Group - Thomas Ebersol newnes@lisp.com.au for catering purposes. Light refreshments and we ask for a gold coin donation.

This beautiful double sided map welcomes visitors to the broken rock country around Newnes Plateau and provides information about attractions, flora, fauna and cultural heritage.

The Visitors Map is in full colour, 60 by 85 cm in size, and covers the entire Gardens of Stone region at a 1:100,000 scale, making it ideal for planning your next trip to the area.

The map can be ordered online at the Blue Mountains Conservation Society's website.

Volunteers searching for rare plants discovered something even more extraordinary when they stumbled onto previously unrecorded Aboriginal Hand stencils in a cave over-hang near Lithgow.

This week LEG was informed that this site had not previously been recorded. LEG will now work with the DECCW to register this site and further investigate the surrounding area.

Lithgow City Council has issued a water quality alert for Farmers Creek downstream of the Geordie Street Crossing.

Lithgow Council has been fined $105,000 plus $25,000 court costs in the Land and Environment Court for destroying 76 Grevillea obtusiflora ssp fecunda plants and 1 Phebalium bifidum on Port Macquarie Rd in the Capertee Valley. Both are Endangered Species. The full judgement is available on Lawlink. [here's a pdf of the decision..]

This comes on top of Council's $68,750 fine in 2007 for causing pollution from its Oakey Park Water Treatment Plant, and $6000 fine in 2003 for breaches at the Lithgow Sewage Treatment Plant.

This ranks Lithgow City Council as one of the poorest environmental performers of all 154 NSW Councils. Only 5 other NSW Councils (Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Cabonne, and Midcoast) appear to have been prosecuted for environmental breaches in the last 10 years.

Only two Councils have been prosecuted on more than one occasion - Byron Shire Council (x2), and Lithgow City Council (x3).

Here are some photos of Grevillea obtusiflora ssp fecunda taken in the Capertee Valley.
Click the image to see a larger image.