OCAA petitions against coal mine

THE Oakey Coal Action Alliance has launched a petition calling on the State Government to reject the stage three expansion of New Acland Mine.

Oakey Coal Action Alliance spokesman Paul King claimed the coal mine’s expansion posed an unacceptable threat to the underground water resources relied upon by farmers and their families in the Acland area.

“Farmers’ water allocations have already been cut by up to 50 per cent, yet the proposed expansion is slated to produce a further drawdown of 900 million litres a year from surrounding aquifers,” he said.

“Businesses in Oakey and surrounds rely on these farms to keep going - if the farms go, so will the local economy.

“What’s more, the farming land around Oakey is classed in the top 1.5 per cent in Queensland. It is madness that it should be destroyed for the sake of a temporary coal mine.”

Mine proponent New Hope recently applied to the Coordinator General to alter one of the conditions of its approval to keep its coal dump and rail load-out facility near the town of Jondaryan for between 30 months and five years from the date of receiving their approvals for Stage 3 and all appeal processes have ended.

A New Hope spokesman said the company was committed to moving the load-out facility away from Jondaryan but had asked for a relaxation of the current condition - which required the new rail facility to be operating from the first day of operations of the Stage 3 project - until the company had certainty stage three was going ahead.