NSW Environment Minister Rob Stokes has encouraged Dungog Shire Council to impose a condition on the Martins Creek quarry that would force 70per cent of its product on to rail transport.
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Mr Stokes gave his support for the move in a letter to the council last week.
It would leave 30per cent of quarried materials to be moved by road.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority has also backed the suggestion and urged the council to enforce the condition.
But council general manager Craig Deasey said that while the council would look at conditions surrounding the distribution of quarry materials, imposing a condition that an amount had to be taken by rail would only lead to “added rail stock on an already congested line”.
He said any materials transported by rail would have to be transferred onto trucks at a certain point to deliver them to their destination, and it was likely that using the line would interfere with coal trains.
Four Bolwarra residents who met with quarry owner Daracon general manager David Mingay and divisional manager Adam Kelly last week say they were told the company was not interested in using rail because it was not financially viable.
“It was very clear that Daracon has no intention of transporting materials any other way than through Paterson, down Tocal Road and through Bolwarra,” Simon Thibault said.
Mr Kelly would not comment about what was said during the meeting and referred questions about the company’s development application to Dungog council.
Mr Deasey said Daracon agreed last month to lodge a new development application because it had not been operating under any agreement with the council, or making contributions to its impact on the road network.
It had only been bound by obligations set out in the environment protection licence issued by the EPA in 2007 when the quarry was owned by RailCorp.
Mr Deasey said RailCorp had been in the process of applying to increase the quarry’s extraction limit to two million tonnes a year when it sold to Daracon.
Although the EPA approved the rise, the council says it is invalid because it was not consulted.
Mr Deasey said it could take six to eight months before Daracon’s application was ready to be submitted to the council.
The quarry generates up to 600 truck movements six days a week.
