The Independent Planning Commission are holding a public meeting in Mudgee next month, as part of their determination of the Ulan Coal Mine Mod 4 project.
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The application is to extend longwalls at the Ulan Underground and Ulan West operations to access an additional 6.4Mt of coal and would increase the mining footprint by two per cent.
During the NSW Department of Planning and Environment's exhibition period - from April 10 to May 2, 2019 - 87 submissions were received; 65 objections from the public; 14 objections from special interest groups; two comments from the community; and six from government agencies.
Issues raised included feared impacts on; The Drip; Goulburn and Talbragar rivers; the Durridgere State Conservation Area; and Aboriginal heritage sites, namely subsidence damage to the Mona Creek rock shelters.
The DPE has recommended approval of the modification, their Assessment Report stating the proposal "can be achieved with minimal incremental environmental impacts to water resources, biodiversity, and heritage compared to the approved project".
The Department was satisfied that the application will not impact on The Drip, due to the 7.7km distance from the longwall panel extension area. And that the Mona Creek rock shelters were also found to be outside the expected subsidence impact area, the DPE calling the subsidence predictions "sound".
Their report predicts additional baseflow reduction of 0.001ML/day for the Goulburn River and 0.003ML/day for the Talbragar River. The discharge to the Goulburn River would increase by 0.2ML/day taking it to a predicted 27.9ML - their Environmental Protection Licence permits 30ML/day.
There are no proposed changes to the workforce and the existing mining fleet will be used. The extraction will provide a further $40 million royalty to NSW.
The proposal is now in the hands of the Independent Planning Commission, with the panel seeking the community's views. The public meeting will be held at 9am, Wednesday, June 19, 2019, at Parklands Resort and Conference Centre.
Anyone wanting to speak must complete an expression-of-interest form and return it via email to ipcn@ipcn.nsw.gov.au no later than 5pm, Wednesday, June 12.
The DPE's final assessment report and other relevant documents are accessible online at ipcn.nsw.gov.au and majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au under the title 'Ulan Coal Mod 4'.