The Upper Hunter village of Camberwell has been the proverbial canary in the coal mine when it comes to assessing the impacts of mining pollution on human health for the best part of two decades.
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With eight mines now operating within 10 kilometres and another four extensions planned, those who have stayed on believe the end is nigh for their once thriving village.
“They [those who approve mining projects] are so blase when they say a project will have a severe impact on human health,” long-time resident Deidre Olofsson said.
“At what point is enough enough?”
The Upper Hunter Air Quality Monitoring network station at Camberwell shows there were 126 exceedances of national air quality standards for coarse particle pollution (PM10) between 2011 and 2017.
In addition, Ms Olofosson has received 248 email alerts for the same period, including 17 for this year, for real-time coarse particle pollution exceedances in the village.
The World Health Organisation lists particle pollution as a carcinogen.
There is no threshold below which PM10 does not cause respiratory symptoms and diseases, and contribute to strokes and heart attacks.
In one example last November PM10 levels were recorded at 229.7 parts per million.
The National Environment Protection Measure states that levels above 100 are deemed hazardous.
The rolling average for Camberwell that day was 97.3, which is very poor.
The exceedances are in stark contrast to a 2011 Hunter New England Health review of Upper Hunter air quality that said five coarse particle exceedances a year would be acceptable.
About twenty families now live in and around Camberwell, compared to the 200-plus that lived there in the 1950s when the area boasted some of Hunter’s richest dairy farming country.
Sandra Turner grew up in the village and returned to live there 22 years ago.
“I don’t care what the authorities say, it (the air) has definitely got worse in the past 10 years.” she said.
“Everytime a project comes up the only thing we hear is that it needs to get approved because it will provide jobs for the workers; we should have diversified a long time ago.”
Ms Oloffson said those who felt they could no longer live in the area should be given the right to demand the mining industry buys their property so they can settle elsewhere.
“People who live in houses that the mining companies own are warned about the poor air quality when they move in,” she said.
“Those of us who own properties and choose to live here are just expected to live with it.”
The state government’s policy regarding landholder rights in relation to air quality impacts are set out in the 2014 Voluntary Land Acquisition and Mitigation Policy.
The residents have also called for an urgent population health study on the impact of mining on Camberwell’s residents.
“We not only cop the dust from the mines on our doorstep but the dust from further up in the Valley comes straight towards us.”
“This community is bearing the cumulative impact of mining throughout the valley.”
Doctors for the Environment told a recent Planning Assessment Commission meeting that it believed poor air quality was responsible for a 28.6 per cent increase in Singleton Hospital emergency department admissions between July-September, 2016 and July-September, 2017.
Admissions at Maitland and John Hunter Hospital declined in the same period.
NSW Minerals Council chief executive Stephen Galilee said local mining operations took air quality issues seriously.
He added thousands of local miners and their families lived in communities close to the mines where they work.
“While air quality is generally good in the Hunter, there are a wide range of factors that influence air quality from year to year,” Mr Galilee said.
“Weather conditions play a big part and it is well known that the Hunter has experienced an extended period of drought, leading to drier and dustier conditions right across the region"
An Environment Protection Authority spokeswoman said the Dust Stop program had reduced emissions from NSW coal mines by 22,000 tonnes per annum since 2012.
“This will have led to some improvement in air quality in areas close to mines like Camberwell,” she said.
Since the completion of the Dust Stop program, the EPA had trialled a dust risk forecasting system to identify days when Upper Hunter mines need to take extra precautions to reduce dust.
“The system was trialled in 2017 and the results will be used to enhance the EPA’s existing regulation of dust from mines,” she said.
Matthew Kelly
Matthew Kelly has worked as a journalist for more than 25 years. He has been working as a general reporter at the Newcastle Herald since 2018. In recent years he has reported on subjects including environment, energy, water security, manufacturing and higher education. He has previously covered issues including the health and environmental impacts of uncovered coal wagons in the Hunter Valley, the pollution of legacy of former industrial sites and freedom of information issues.
Matthew Kelly has worked as a journalist for more than 25 years. He has been working as a general reporter at the Newcastle Herald since 2018. In recent years he has reported on subjects including environment, energy, water security, manufacturing and higher education. He has previously covered issues including the health and environmental impacts of uncovered coal wagons in the Hunter Valley, the pollution of legacy of former industrial sites and freedom of information issues.
