Michael White's picturesque Wybong property is a far cry from the pits where he spent four decades building a successful career as a mining engineer and manager.
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It was a career that included stints in a manganese mine in the Gulf of Carpentaria, a diamond mine in Canada and 13 years at BHP's Mt Arthur coal mine near Muswellbrook, including eight as operations and general manager.
He left the company in 2014 and has since shifted his focus to preserving what is left of the Hunter Valley and working to create a sustainable future for his grandchildren.
"I'm still a supporter of the mining industry overall but we have got to get away from thermal coal as quickly as possible, from a global perspective and a regional perspective," he said.
"The Upper Hunter has great sites of natural beauty but while we are tearing up large tracts of land and doing large scale open cut coal mines the opportunity costs to develop other industries and attract people to the region are increasing all the time."
When he is not working his 200 acre hobby farm, Mr White works as a consultant to groups seeking advice about a multitude of technical issues related to mining projects.
Clients include the thoroughbred industry, which has hundreds of millions of dollars invested in Upper Hunter horse studs.
Thirty years ago the closest coal mine was 30 kilometres away from the nearest stud. Today several have expanded with a couple of kilometres of where horses roam.
In the past decade the industry, under the banner of the Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association, has successfully fought off plans by Anglo to develop the Drayton South open cut mine, which would have come within 500 metres of the Coolmore and Darley studs.
In more recent times the association has also expressed concern about the impact of projects such as Bickham Coal, Doyle's Creek underground, Spur Hill's underground, Dartbrook and Mt Pleasant on air and water quality.
Closer to home Mr White has been campaigning against Glencore's proposed Mangoola mine extension which is located a short distance from his property.
The state and federal governments signed off on the project, which will extend Mangoola's footprint by an approximate 623 hectares, last year.
Glencore estimates the project, which will extend the mine life of Mangoola until December 2030, will create a further 145 construction and 80 operational jobs and provide ongoing employment for 400 workers.
"They are going to tear up more country to mine 50 million tonnes that will make well over $2billion net profit," Mr White said.
"It will leave an additional final void in the landscape and the people who live nearby see their major assets devalued. There is just a lack of fairness in the whole process."
He is also watching with interest BHP's attempt to sell the Mt Arthur mine and, at the same time, gain approval to extend its operational life until 2045.
"As a business decision I can absolutely understand it; they want to sell something that has got an approved horizon, but ultimately they are trying to put lipstick on a pig," he said.
At the end of the day, all of the proposed project extensions and their associated social and environmental impacts reflect current government approval processes and polices.
"I think the government is terrified that if they change the policy settings mid-stride they are going to find themselves in court," Mr White said.
"We have got to change the policy settings...perhaps at the very least make proponents demonstrate how their applications will help us get to net zero."
Like many others in the Upper Hunter, Mr White has first-hand experience of poor air quality on human health.
His technical expertise led to his appointment as a community representative on the Upper Hunter Air Quality Advisory Committee.
Formed 2010, the committee is designed to enable local communities to engage with their industrial neighbours, the NSW Environment Protection Authority and other government agencies in the management of potential air quality impacts.
While he says the committee has done good work in some areas, Mr White admits to being frustrated by the lack of progress on implementing tighter regulation on emissions from off-road diesel vehicles.
He cites a 2015 Environment Protection Authority study that found diesel exhaust emissions from mining industry vehicles were one of the biggest threats to the health of Upper Hunter communities.
It was supported by a World Health Organisation decision to elevate diesel fumes to the category of "known carcinogen" from its previous classification of "probably carcinogenic".
Yet, almost a decade on and there are still no emission limits for off-road diesel vehicles in Australia.
"In 2012 mining equipment in NSW consumed 930 million litres of diesel and 80 per cent of that was in Singleton and Muswellbrook local government areas. That figure has increased significantly over the past decade," Mr White said.
"Even places like Russia have had off-road emission standards since last century. It's pretty damning situation."
"The last couple of approvals that have gone through like the Mangoola project and United Wambo have got a consent condition that says 'other than your existing equipment you need to make sure that you have got reasonable and feasible emission controls'. You can drive a truck through consent wording like that."
Another contentious part of the mining industry's legacy is mine site rehabilitation.
Mining companies proudly present case studies of newly forested former mine sites. Other examples demonstrate the potential for rehabilitated land to be used for agriculture, tourism and renewable energy.
But no matter how good it looks, there is no shortage of critics who point out that rehabilitated land pales in comparison to what was destroyed.
Mr White shares this scepticism, but acknowledges there are some tracts of rehabilitated land that are worth showcasing.
"A lot of the country that was dug up where Mt Arthur was, for example, there was very little groundwater and it was poor farming country. So where good rehabilitation is done there is the opportunity to restore the country," he said.
"If you go along Wybong Road near the Mangoola mine some of the rehab is as good as you will see. But that said, they are still going to be leaving two final voids that will be over 100 hectares.
"So in places they do a good job with rehab but I think it would be better not to rip it up in the first place."
As for the future of the industry that he built his career on, Mr White believes coking coal mining will remain a valuable commodity for some years yet.
"We have got project Maxwell, which is Malabar coal. They tell us they are 80 per cent coking coal. Maybe that still does have a place until we get to a point where green steel becomes the go. If anything gets a guernsey, that project is probably valid. But I don't think a project like Mr Pleasant is," he said.
Moving forward, Mr White hopes his experience and advocacy will help contribute to a sustainable future.
"I have got six grandchildren and I want to try and make sure they have a future. I'd like to see the Hunter as a vibrant place that has got a balance of industries that can leverage the existing infrastructure for green energy generation and distribution.
- Michael White
"I have got six grandchildren and I want to try and make sure they have a future," he said.
"The beauty of the Upper Hunter and being able to make it a destination like Mudgee or even Pokolbin is untapped.
"I'd like to see the Hunter as a vibrant place that has got a balance of industries that can leverage the existing infrastructure for green energy generation and distribution.
"Once we get rid of the coal mines the big fights are probably going to be between land holders and wind farms and solar farms. We are already hearing that."
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