Whitehaven Coal pleads guilty to breaching mining laws causing 'significant environmental harm'
Whitehaven Coal has pleaded guilty to 19 charges brought against it by the state’s resources regulator for breaches of mining laws that caused environmental damage that could last for decades.
The regulator commenced prosecution in the NSW Land and Environment court in August against the mining company’s subsidiaries Narrabri Coal and Narrabri Coal Operations for breaches of exploration licences at an underground mine site in the Pilliga region of north-west New South Wales.
Earlier this week, the regulator rejected Whitehaven’s proposal to pay $50,000 to the NSW Minerals Council as part of a settlement, saying it would be out of line with community expectations.
The regulator said the unauthorised destruction of vegetation, including 13 hollow-bearing trees, to clear access tracks was particularly concerning and had caused “significant environmental harm” that could take decades to recover from.
Other offences related to the unauthorised construction of tracks and drilling of bores as well as a failure to rehabilitate drill sites.
In a directions hearing on Friday, the mining company pleaded guilty to all charges – 10 against Narrabri Coal and nine directed at Narrabri Coal Operations.
Each offence carries a maximum penalty of $1.1m. A date for a sentencing hearing will be set by the court next week.
Whitehaven had proposed to settle the case with an enforceable undertaking that included a $150,000 payment to Gunnedah Shire council towards the operational costs of a new koala park once the park was established.
The company also proposed paying the state minerals council $50,000 to put towards producing industry guidance on “leading practice in exploration”.
But the regulator rejected the proposal due to “the seriousness of the conduct alleged and the collective merits of the initiatives proposed”.
In a list of reasons for his decision, the regulator’s executive director, Anthony Keon, said the offending behaviour was “significant and at the higher end of the scale” and that it was “demonstrative of a comprehensive failure to meet fundamental regulatory obligations in relation to the approvals (and restrictions) obtained.”
Keon also had concerns about the proposed $50,000 payment to the minerals council to develop exploration guidance for the mining industry.
He wrote that while the concept was worthwhile, the “only enforceable deliverable in the undertaking is the payment of the monies with the final deliverable resting with the minerals council”.
“I am further of the view that the community would be rightly concerned with a project that involves payment to an industry advocacy group,” the decision states.
With regards to the koala park, Keon wrote that the proposed $150,000 payment lacked sufficient detail to ensure benefits were delivered to the community in the event the planned park didn’t eventuate.
Other measures Whitehaven put forward included $50,000 for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy to support an endangered mammal reintroduction program in the Pilliga Forest and $203,500 to pay the regulator’s unrecoverable costs associated with investigating the alleged breaches.
The regulator noted Whitehaven
had taken steps to “remedy the alleged offending behaviour”, had complied with the suspension of its exploration licence, and undertaken rehabilitation work.
But Keon wrote that such governance arrangements “should have been in place prior to the alleged contraventions taking place given the size and scale of the operations”.
A Whitehaven spokesperson said the company would not comment on the matters before the court.
But the company previously acknowledged the alleged breaches were “an unacceptable incident”.
“In response, the company took immediate rehabilitation action and implemented a range of longer term management measures to ensure compliance with its environmental obligations in the Narrabri exploration lease area,” the spokesperson said.
“This included commissioning independent and comprehensive reviews of systems and processes, implementing the full suite of remedial measures arising from these reviews, and having the full implementation of these measures independently verified.”
The anti-mining group Lock the Gate welcomed the regulator’s decision to proceed with the legal action.
“It’s a sad joke that Whitehaven’s idea of an enforceable undertaking is to pay money to its own industry body, who have led the charge in NSW to weaken controls on mining. It reveals Whitehaven’s contempt for the law,” Sally Hunter, a Boggabri farmer, said before the company pleaded guilty on Friday.
“It is such a relief to hear that the resources regulator is willing to stand up to this company in a court of law.”
Hunter said she hoped the case would lead to the concerns of farmers in the region being taken seriously.
“We hope the court recognises the significance of the offences and that Whitehaven receives fines that reflect the community’s absolute outrage over this company’s illegal behaviour.”