THERE was a time when Eddie Obeid’s family company and a Korean Government-backed energy giant had similar ideas about the future of the Bylong Valley, and that future was coal.
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But the Obeid company Locaway and KEPCO have had a falling out over the impacts of KEPCO’s controversial proposed Bylong coal mine on the Obeid family farm Cherrydale Park, and Locaway is not happy about the Department of Planning’s response to its concerns.
Locaway has told the NSW Independent Planning Commission its rights are being trodden on, and the department is giving KEPCO a get-out clause that means it won’t have to buy out Cherrydale Park because of mine impacts.
Locaway’s lawyer, Brendan Tobin, has warned the commission it will take the matter to court if the underground and open cut coal mine between Denman and Mudgee is approved without addressing “significant failures” in the assessment process, including leaving a final decision on some of Locaway’s concerns up to the discretion of Department of Planning Secretary Carolyn McNally.
“Locaway objects to the Bylong Coal Project because of the unacceptable impacts of the project and the environmental impact statement’s significant failure to consider the impacts of the project on Cherrydale Park properly, or at all,” Mr Tobin said in a submission to the Independent Planning Commission which has reserved a final decision on the mine proposal after hearings in November.
Bylong Valley Protection Alliance members and supporters sang carols in Sydney on Wednesday to “tell the Independent Planning Commission we don’t want Bylong Valley to be given coal this Christmas”.
The Obeid company bought Cherrydale Park for $3.65 million in 2007 and entered into an option agreement with the backer of the Mt Penny coal project to purchase Cherrydale Park and its water rights, Mr Tobin said.
Mr Obeid, his former Labor Government ministry colleague Ian Macdonald and Mr Obeid’s son Moses have entered not guilty pleas to charges of conspiring between late 2007 and early 2009 over Mr Macdonald’s granting of a coal exploration licence over Bylong land at Mt Penny.
The prosecution will allege the trio conspired that Mr Macdonald would engage in wilful misconduct in public office by acting "without impartiality" or in breach of his obligations of confidentiality in order to benefit Obeid family interests. A trial is listed to start in May.
Mr Tobin said Locaway believed KEPCO had not addressed the impact of its mine’s noise, water, dust, agricultural land and other impacts on Cherrydale Park “based upon the mistaken assumption by KEPCO that Locaway is a mine-related company”.
“Despite contrary assertions, the agricultural operations at Cherrydale Park are carried out in a genuine and businesslike manner and are regularly used by the owners,” Mr Tobin said.
The farm has three homesteads, a beef cattle carrying capacity for 300 breeders and calves, 120 hectares of irrigated farm land for growing lucerne, a large hay storage area, “significant associated farming infrastructure” and substantial water access licences for 865 units of water from the Bylong River, he said.
Locaway argued noise impacts had been incorrectly assessed and KEPCO was “given a waiver” under recommended conditions of consent that mean noise limits do not apply during temperature inversion conditions common in the Bylong valley, which exacerbate mine noise.
“This is not a cursory issue as it addresses the question of whether or not Cherrydale Park should be afforded acquisition rights under any development consent,” Mr Tobin said.
Victorian acoustics expert Les Huson said Mr Tobin’s complaint “has substance” and new outdoor low frequency noise targets “need to be assessed”.
Locaway also strongly criticised the Department of Planning’s acceptance of KEPCO’s argument that its Bylong mine “is unlikely to result in any significant impact to groundwater users in the locality”.
A draft compensatory water agreement between KEPCO and Locaway requiring KEPCO to “truck water to a single location for stock and domestic use only” if the mine affects Cherrydale Park’s bores “are in KEPCO’s favour and can only lead to a dispute”, Mr Tobin said.
“Compensating for water also does not take account of the practical likelihood that there may be no water or insufficient water available from KEPCO’s borefield to transport to Cherrydale Park on a daily basis. It is certainly unlikely that 865 megalitres of water will be available,” he said.
Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association spokesperson John Krey, whose group campaigned strongly against an expanded Mt Thorley Warkworth coal mine because of noise, water and dust impacts, said Locaway’s complaints about the noise assessment process were valid after the NSW Government “watered down” the industrial noise policy “to make it easier for mining companies to comply with noise requirements”.
Mr Krey also criticised conditions that left the final decision on issues to the Planning Secretary’s discretion.
KEPCO told the commission it had spent more than $700 million on the proposed Bylong mine so far. It would employ 470 people and was necessary “to help secure Korea’s energy needs for the next 25 years by securing a reliable supply of high energy coal with low ash content”, a spokesperson said.
“The coal from the Bylong coal project has a low sulphur content (less than 0.4 per cent) that has advantages for lowering air pollution in South Korea and accords with South Korea’s new regulations for the sulphur content of coal,” the spokesperson said.
A department spokesperson said the department assessed the noise impacts of the Bylong project in accordance with NSW Government policy on noise, which included a “comprehensive assessment of noise impacts during inversion conditions and low frequency noise”.
”The final assessment report and the Department’s preliminary assessment report address the concerns raised by Mr Tobin,” the spokesperson said.
