Breaking news!: NSW government cancels mining licences tainted by Eddie Obeid, Ian Macdonald corruption scandals

The NSW government has announced it will cancel lucrative coal licences at the centre of corruption inquiries involving former ministers Ian Macdonald and Eddie Obeid, and deny the companies who own them any compensation.

Read more here.

Law to scotch 'corrupt' mines welcomed

A proposed state law would give the government the power to cancel corrupt mining licences.

The bill was created in preparation for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) report into coal mining rights at Doyles Creek and Mt Penny in the Hunter region.

Read the full article here.

Community consultation session for the proposed Airly Mine extension

Reminder: the second community consultation session for the proposed Airly Mine extension is being held this Sunday, 10 November, 10 am at Glen Alice Community Hall. If it goes ahead, this proposal could have huge implications for our aquifers and waterways. Centennial proposes to use a vast quantity of water for this operation, a big concern as we appear to be heading into another drought period. 

Please attend the meeting if you can and take the opportunity to put your questions to centennial staff. You can fid out more about the Airly project here.

Make a submission on an amendment to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Mining, Petroleum Production and Extractive Industries) 2007 (Mining SEPP), Draft Biophysical Strategic Agricultural Land mapping

The State Government is seeking feedback before 8th November regarding new proposals to protect farmland. The farmland they have designated as Biophysical Strategic Agricultural Land is only a tiny proportion of the state and the standards that they apply for determining which land is important seem overly restrictive. 

The 'Gateway' assessment process seems inadequate as well, in terms of protecting our food and water resources.

Submissions need to be made by Friday 8 November 2013. If you would like to make a submission, go to this page on the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure website. 

Some brief points to make are:

• Waterways and catchment areas are not adequately protected.
• Land should be protected from all forms of mining, not just CSG.
• The 'Gateway' assessment process seems inadequate in terms of protecting our food and water resources for the future. It seems it cannot refuse an application.
• Ask for the deadline for submissions to be extended, as more land needs to be assessed and definitions of what land is important agricultural land should be revised.
• In our area the Biophysical Strategic Agricultural Land shown (on map 32) needs to be expanded, as other important land, such as the basalt soils with permanent water of Mt Vincent and Cherry Tree Hill, is not included. 

There are a great number of documents on the Department of Planning's page, but the ones that apply to our area are Map 32 (covering Running Stream, Kandos etc) and Map 31 (covering the Mudgee area).

Craig Shaw to speak at Capertee Valley Alliance AGM

If you missed hearing Craig talk about his experiences negotiating an access agreement to his property in the Bylong Valley, you have another chance on Sunday 3rd November, 2pm at Glen Alice Hall. It is a tale worth listening to. Here is the invite:

RSVP by Thursday XXXXXXX                              Note: the CVA will hold their AGM at 1.30
Phone - 6379 7767 or email                                              only financial members can vote
caperteevalleyallinc@ipstramail.com.au

Notes on the talk given at the AGM by Bruce Christie of Central West CMA

Bruce Christie kindly attended our recent AGM and gave a talk about water monitoring, touching on a range of topics such as:

• The government used to have quite an extensive network of gauging stations along rivers and creeks, with data monitors and samples (measuring temperature, EC – which is a reading of salinity, phosphorous and dissolved oxygen. However, owing to government cost-cutting measures, many of these sites are no longer monitored.

• The Office of Water is now concerned with water quality and issues licences which are now tradeable. Allocation of licences is not always done on a scientific basis, especially years ago, with the result that in some areas there is over-allocation of water. This can be clearly seen in the Macquarie Marshes where now some areas, due to lack of water, are no longer marshes but are turning into terrestrial ecosystems.

• Bruce explained the issue of harvestable rights – the amount of land you own constrains how much water you can capture (ie harvest) in dams. This water can be used for whatever you like.

• Piezometers are used to measure the rise and fall of groundwater. Tracking this rise and fall against local rainfall events can give you some idea if the groundwater system being measured is a local system or is linked to a regional system.

• The CMA does awareness-raising with schools in the region. Bruce visits schools 4-5 times a year and works with years 9 and 10. They will do things like visual monitoring, evaluating the surrounding environment to gain some idea of how this might affect the quality of the water, and then measure temperature, EC, pH and turbidity.

• Bruce then explained how these parameters are measured, showing us the equipment to be used.

• Bruce suggested it would be good for members of the association to take some snapshots of a number of springs. Do this by recording the day and recent weather events and then taking a photo, with GPS location, and measuring the simple water quality parameters of temperature, EC, pH and turbidity. Also measure the quantity or flow, if possible.

• You can register your monitored site on the Water Watch website and enter the results on the website. The entered data is verified by the CMA so any obvious errors such as typos are picked up and any anomalies will be queried. This helps to give the data a bit of credibility.

Bruce left the Association with a water testing kit, which members can borrow and use to check their springs, waterways and dams. If you’d like to borrow the kit, please email the association at: runningstream2850@gmail.com

Administrators appointed to companies of controversial Coalpac Consolidation Project in Cullen Bullen

Company Administrators Matthew Wayne Caddy and Shaun Robert Fraser were appointed on the 18 October 2013 for the following companies associated with controversial Coalpac Consolidation Project:

Company: CET Resources Pty Ltd

Company: Coalpac Pty Ltd

Company: Portland Road Pastoral Co Pty Ltd in its own capacity and as trustee for Portland Road Unit Trust

Company: Lithgow Coal Company Pty Limited

Notice is given that a first meeting of the creditors of the Company, or a first meeting for each of the Companies, (for multiple companies), will be held:

Location:     Cliftons, Level 13, 60 Margaret Street, Sydney

Meeting Date:     30 October 2013

Meeting Time:     11am

ASIC Link:  https://insolvencynotices.asic.gov.au/browsesearch-notices/notice-details/CET-Resources-Pty-Ltd-119909214/ed5072c3-77fe-4456-aba2-6e3045590cf6?appointment=All&noticepurpose=All&noticestate=All&companyname=coalpac

It certainly wasn't looking good for the Coalpac Pty Ltd sponsored COALFACE Western Region Mining Magazine, featuring theLithgow & District Community Forum's head spokesperson Dick Austen on the front cover and an inside editorial by Lithgow City Council Mayor, Maree Statham, when earlier this week a large bundle of the FREE magazines were spotted left dumped outside a local Lithgow Service Station!