Colong Foundation for Wilderness
Media Releases
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Colong Foundation Media Releases (2008 archive)
- The Kossie Horse Plan – one small step for park management - 12 December 2008
- Government report an attack on national parks and wilderness areas - 3 December 2008
- Rees Hands National Parks to Tourism Industry - 3 December 2008
- Mine's Green Award Ignores the Damage Done – 2 December 2008
- Newnes Option Not Viable for Great Western Highway Upgrade – 24 November 2008
- Minerals Council’s ‘Humpty-Dumpty’ Environmental Award – 19 November 2008
- Environment group demands Park Development tender be Withdrawn – 14 July 2008
- Mining Inquiry dumps on Catchment Protection – 10 July 2008
- Ban Multiseam coal mining – 11 June 2008
- Environmental controls to be ditched for film industry – 11 June 2008
- Boost NSW Coal Royalties or future generations will pay the price – 3 June 2008
- New Cloud Seeding Legislation could dampen the snow season – 13 May 2008
- Environment Group supports TTF’s call for wilderness protection – 6 March 2008
- Crevasses put Dendrobium mine extension plans in doubt – 2 February 2008
- BHP-Billiton's Appin West mine threatens the Nepean River – 30 January 2008
- BHP-Billiton's Dendrobium proposal unacceptable – 24 January 2008
The Kossie Horse Plan – one small step for nature-based park management
12 December 2008
“Today, after eight years, a horse management plan for the thousands of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park and adjoining state forests has been released. The plan relies upon attracting feral horses into yards and trucking them out. This is slow and expensive method of control. NSW Government needs to remove feral horses more efficiently from its parks,” said Keith Muir, Director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“Feral horses compete with native wildlife, disperse weeds and cause serious stream pollution. As a result, park visitors are more likely to seek a feral horse than a grey kangaroo or an emu,” he said.
“The park's feral horse population is at least 3,000, and baring major wildfires and droughts, grows at 100 to 300 horses a year. So control methods only start to bite when more than 300 horses are removed from the park a year. Mustering on that scale is a major drain on park finances,” said Mr Muir.
“The Colong Foundation continues to support aerial shooting of feral horses because it is the quickest and most humane way to control method of vertebrate pests. All the shooters involved would be trained by instructors from the NSW Police Service, Department of Agriculture, and the Rural Lands Protection Board. Any shooting would be monitored using the strictest protocols and the RSPCA,” he said. ”
“We call on the Government to remove the aerial shooting ban on of horses in parks. Aerial shooting does occur in Outback Australia , so why not use it to protect sensitive Alpine ecology?” asks Mr Muir.
“The Government have put humane and effective control of feral horses in the too hard basket, while, at the same time, it allows endangered dingo populations to become extinct by using poison baits in the park. The Colong Foundation believes that national park management must continue to become more nature-focused if wildlife is to survive under accelerating climate change, said Mr Muir.
Just over the border in the ACT, park management has a zero tolerance policy on feral horses. In Kosciuszko, a similar policy will be applied to the Main Range and the limestone country in the north, which is a good step in the right direction.”
The Colong Foundation is also pleased that brumby running has been rejected as a pest control method. Brumby running often results in injury to horses and riders. As a control method, it doesn't work, as evidenced in Guy Fawkes National Park ” he said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir , (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (mob)
Government report an attack on national parks and wilderness areas
03 December 2008
“This morning's release of a final Tourism and National Parks Taskforce report that outlines how parks and wilderness will be developed for the commercial tourism industry, without a public comment and review period, sums up what's wrong with the NSW Government. We promise the Government a big fight over deregulation of national park and wilderness laws, having seen the disastrous results of deregulation of our planning laws,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
The NSW Government will earn double demerit points if it turns its back on Labor's long history as the champion of nature conservation in NSW. These plans to weaken our park and wilderness protection laws must be dropped, said Mr Muir.
“You would have thought after the V8 supercar racing at Homebush debacle that the NSW Government could have worked out that the ‘here you are, now cop it sweet' approach is a huge vote loser,” Mr Muir said.
“The impact of this scheme to weaken our national park and wilderness laws could be severe. The specific proposals for private commercial infrastructure in national parks (so-called eco-resorts, cabins and glamour camps) will hatch out later, but already a major cultural change is underway within the National Parks and Wildlife Service. As more government resources are diverted away from nature conservation towards management of private tourism, the role of the Parks Service as a keeper and defender of nature becomes weaker. Already almost a quarter of the Parks Service has been diverted into a so-called Tourism and Partnerships Branch, while important conservation initiatives are not resourced,” he said.
“The hot air about private development in parks freeing up resources for nature conservation is rubbish. Look at the excessive development of Kosciuszko, those resorts suck up government money for infrastructure and it won't be different for other parks”, Mr Muir said.
The Government should help regional NSW to develop tourism facilities in their towns and rural districts where it benefits the community most and builds on local infrastructure. Constructing facilities with private money in national parks is just stupid, it competes with the tourism facilities in the surrounding community, as well as degrades our wonderful, intact natural parks,” he said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir , (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (mob)
Joint Media Statement
Blue Mountains
Conservation Society
Rees Hands National Parks to Tourism Industry
3 December 2008
The Rees Government has fallen short on its first major environmental test by opening up national parks to development. By backing the Tourism and National Parks Taskforce it has placed misguided faith in commercial activities to fund our national parks.
Today the Government released the final report by the Taskforce on Tourism and National Parks. The report recommends a suite of regressive changes to national parks and park legislation to facilitate tourism development on parks.
Recommendations include changes to national park laws to broaden the purpose of national parks to include ‘tourism' and new leasing arrangements to allow new ‘eco-resorts', cabins and semi-permanent camps, changes to wilderness laws to allow commercial tours and identifying new high-paying commercial uses to help fund park management.
“NSW environment groups are dismayed that the Rees Government has sold-out to the demands of big tourism. There is a clear strategy to deregulate the people's parks,” said Andrew Cox, NPA Executive Officer.
“The Government has rejected the need for more public spending on basic infrastructure such as tracks, signage and viewing platforms and improved management of national parks. By providing a more attractive visitor experience this had the potential to drive tourism development in neighbouring towns, creating jobs for rural NSW.”
“NSW national parks already host 22 million visits a year and pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy.”
The Government endorsed the taskforce report within days of receiving it. There was no opportunity for public comment and the interim report which was flagged as part of the process has been completely bypassed. Environment and other public interest groups were not represented on the taskforce but were originally offered a chance to comment on the draft report. This offer has now been withdrawn without reason.
“This unseemly haste to pander to the big end of town makes a mockery of public consultation,” said Tara Cameron, President of Blue Mountains Conservation Society.
“The only chance the public had to provide input was an invitation to comment on a page of terms of reference. No proposals were on the table until today. These are dramatic changes to the way national parks are run and the public deserves to be asked what they think.
“The NSW Government is clearly running a big tourism and development agenda, not a conservation agenda”, said Keith Muir Director of Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“Industry lobbyists are being given everything they want. The Rees Government seems to think they can use the parks as just another political tool. But they don't own our parks, the people do.
Earlier this year the one-sided O'Neill report into Tourism in NSW was scathing of NPWS and prompted the establishment of the Tourism and National Parks Taskforce,” said Mr Muir.
Development lobby group the Tourism and Transport Forum was appointed to the Taskforce so they could pursue their long-standing agenda to weaken national park protection. One thing TTF was pushing for was to lower the limit for planning panel approval for ecotourism developments from $20 million to $5 million.
The Government caved in on this in November, ahead of the taskforce report. Prominent members of the Tourism and Transport Forum donated almost a million dollars to the NSW Labor Party in the lead-up to the last state election.
“Our groups are keen to see increasing numbers of visitors to national parks and to support the Government's target to achieve this in its State Plan, said Mr Cox. “National Parks Association has been developing a detailed plan to deliver more visitors without compromising conservation values.”
“The Taskforce report offers nothing like this. Two of its objectives were to identify how to protect biodiversity and cultural heritage through park use and to show how park tourism can increase management resources. Instead the report focuses on how to develop parks with no analysis of costs and benefits.
“This fairy-tale idea fails to take into account that there is no clear evidence from anywhere in Australia that tourism can provide significant net income for park management. This is just a government handout to a small part of the industry.
“The Rees Government needs to send a clear message that conservation really does matter in our national parks. They need to drop plans to weaken park protection and carry out proper planning for nature tourism that will support regional economies, not just big companies that can afford full-time lobbyists and political donations.
NSW is still lagging behind on good tourism planning. Other supposedly leading states like Victoria have worked on detailed plans for nature tourism without softening park laws or creating conflict in the community. Environment groups stand ready to support a more considered nature tourism plan for NSW”, concluded Mr Cox.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk); 0412 791 404 (mob)
NPA: Andrew Cox 9299 0000 (w); 0438 588 040 (mob)
A river killed, a power plant damaged and another mining industry award
02 December 2008
“Today in the Herald we learn that pollution from Delta Electricity's Wallerawang power station has ‘killed' the Coxs River . Only last month, however, Springvale Colliery received an excellence in environmental management from Australian Mining for it's Water Transfer Scheme to the same power plant. The Scheme, which sucks 20 megalitres of water a day from Newnes Plateau for use in the power plant, is the main source of the contaminated water ,” Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness revealed.
“ The Colong Foundation has also recently learnt that in addition to the river pollution there has been a $25 million repair bill for the Wallerawang power plant caused by using salty water in the plant,” Mr Muir said.
“As a result of the pollution, the Kanangra Wilderness, one of the best wilderness areas in the State, has copped a titanic cleansing job. The wilderness removes metals and salt from the poisoned Coxs River to make it drinkable for Sydney residents. So the Colong Foundation gives an excellence in environmental achievement award to the Kanangra Wilderness for cleansing the pollution caused by Lithgow's mining and power industries ”, announced Mr Muir.
“If the NSW Government had not wrecked our planning laws, the upper Coxs River would not be dead and we would have saved a lot of money in power plant maintenance. An adequate environmental impact assessment for Springvale's massive water transfer scheme, along with proper public comment and review would have identified these pollution problems. The subsequent Government lobbying would have ensured the correction of the pollution problem,” said Mr Muir.
“Through open planning processes the Department of Environment and Climate Change can gain the political leverage it needs to impose strong water cleansing programs for the power stations and mines to restore river health. And the clean water when restored to the Coxs River would significantly lower the maintenance costs at the Wallerawang power plant”, he said.
“It's not too late to stop the damage to our rivers and power plants. Our democracy can be repaired with improved planning laws, but we should act without delay”, Mr Muir said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir , (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (mob
Newnes Plateau Option Not Viable for Great Western Highway Upgrade
24 November 2008
“Newnes Plateau is a natural wonderland just north Lithgow but one of the RTA's Great Western Highway Upgrade options would see it cut in half. Five Mt Victoria to Lithgow route options are on exhibition for public comment till the 22 nd of December,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The Newnes option should be thrown out on economic grounds alone. The Newnes option would cost $900 million to meet the maximum design grade of 6 per cent, as opposed to $450 million for the Hartley Vale options”, he said.
“If all the 800 people in the Hartley Vale were given $500,000 each in compensation for the road options there, taxpayers would still be $50 million better off than from building the Newnes road option,” he said.
“The Newnes road option cuts the Gardens of Stone reserve proposal in two. It requires a large bridge right across the Farmers Creek water storage dam, Lithgow's water supply. The option puts nationally endangered swamps at risk, and many endangered plants and animals, Mr Muir said.
“According to RTA's consultant, Cardno, the extra cost of cutting Newnes Plateau in half could be justified by the social and environmental benefits of the option,” he said.
“Can you imagine senior RTA bureaucrats arguing for a cost doubling with the Cabinet ministers of the Rees and Rudd Governments: “We need another $450 million save the environment and the community!,”” said Mr Muir tongue firmly in his cheek.
“In terms of environmental triage it's a bad deal. Cutting Newnes Plateau in half for $450 million extra could instead buy about ten good wilderness-sized national parks or run the entire NPWS estate in NSW for a year,” he said.
“It would help RTA's credibility if its public information brochure circulated last week showed the known and mapped nationally endangered ecological communities on the Newnes Plateau, not just those in the Hartley Valley, which are in a more cleared and fragmented environment. Why has RTA published information biased against Newnes Plateau?”, wonders Mr Muir.
If the Government wants to spend money on employing people that's one thing. But let's not waste money on bad road options and delude ourselves about saving the environment and the community by bulldozing very deep slots for roads through the highest forested sandstone plateau of the Blue Mountains . Newnes Plateau is a unique environment and meriting much better protection and management than its getting now”, he said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir , (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (mob)
Minerals Council's ‘Humpty-Dumpty' Environmental Award a real crack up
19 November 2008
The Colong Foundation today condemned the NSW Mineral Council for awarding its top environmental prize to Peabody Coal for an experimental attempt to repair just one rock bar on the Waratah Rivulet south of Sydney . One such repair job does not prove the experimental glue technique is good enough for drinking water catchments and sufficient to wind back much stronger and proven protection measures.
“We need certainty for protection of water supplies during coal mining, not glue based repair jobs, as the consequences when things go wrong are just too great. We all know what happened to Humpty Dumpty. We don't want to forget that lesson, do we Minerals Council?” urged Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“And surprise, surprise, Monday is the last day for the to public comment on a bad proposal by Peabody Coal to intensively mine coal under the rest of Waratah Rivulet and even under the stored waters of Woronora Dam itself. Prof Hebblewhite, who chaired the award panel, would appear to be endorsing reliance on the ‘prize winning' experimental glue repair method for Peabody 's new mining proposal,” said Mr Muir.
“Just one glued rock bar does not prove the experiment is effective for restoring damaged streams, catchments or eroded headwater swamps. This award is a sad reflection on the engineering reputation of the mining industry”, he said.
“Prof Hebblewhite also chaired the Southern Coalfields Inquiry that produced recommendations for greater risk taking during coal mining operations,” he said.
“Hebblewhite's Inquiry Report is yet to be adopted or rejected by the NSW Government. Its recommendations could weaken environment regulation for underground coal mining. No longer would environmental impacts be prevented and risk avoided. The Inquiry recommended mine damage risks just be taken and that the coal industry rely on attempts at rehabilitation of the subsequent damage, such as the glue experiment on Waratah Rivulet”, said Mr Muir.
The Peabody 's environmental prize from the NSW Minerals Council was political. It appears to ignore others doing a better job, such as the Airly colliery that proposes to limit damage to a spectacular sandstone mesa using large protection zones. These zones prevent mining damage and are known to work. They should be applied right across our water supply catchments,” said Keith Muir
For more information contact: Keith Muir , (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (mob)
Environment group demands Park Development
tender be Withdrawn
14 July 2008
“An environment group has called on the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) to withdraw its inappropriate Business Development tender document that was advertised in the Herald today. The tender aims to ‘identify new and emerging markets to increase … revenue in NSW National Parks’. It totally overrides the public consultation process for the Park Tourism Taskforce,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The DECC Tourism Taskforce consultation process appears to be just a diversionary tactic. While the tourism industry gets park development tenders, the community gets the consultation on something that will never happen,” Mr Muir said.
“The park development tenders are no doubt designed to make the most of the National Landscapes tourism promotion campaign and are all about making national parks pay their way. This is a re-run of the park development push around the Sydney Olympics in 2000”, he said.
“The tourism industry is also plotting to weaken National Park protection laws through their supporters in Government (see TTF media release 18 June 2008). Today’s tender documents for business development demonstrate that this program is very advanced. The Environment Minister, Verity Firth, must step in and stop this run away process now” he said.
“The Colong Foundation is aware that the tourism industry lobby wants development of national parks fast tracked. Lodges and commercial huts are the favoured development types by the tourism industry. Such developments would be the death of what makes our national parks so special”, said Mr Muir.
“If the tenders continue then the National Landscapes promotion slogan could then be ‘Come to NSW quick, see our wilderness – before its gone’”, he said.
“Kosciuszko National Park already has been degraded by development, and now the parks in the Blue Mountains, those protecting the tropical rainforests on the north coast and on wilderness coast of south-east NSW could be next,” Mr Muir warned.
“The Colong Foundation promises the NSW Government a big fight. National Parks must not become a development opportunity for the tourism industry,” Mr Muir said.
“The commercialisation of park management is a slippery slope that undermines the nature conservation purpose of national parks”, said Mr Muir.
For more information contact: Keith Muir , (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (ah)
Mining Inquiry dumps on Catchment Protection
10 July 2008
The Southern Coalfield Mining Inquiry Report released today is all about abandoning protection zones and adopting a more risk taking approach within our very essential drinking water catchments.
“Sydney’s water supplies are more at risk from this day on, unless the Iemma Government wakes up to the tactics of the coal mining industry,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“Inquiry Chair, Prof Bruce Hebblewhite, a coal mining expert, has recommended Risk Management Zones for sensitive areas, like streams and swamps. And the unstated consequence is that the current Protection Zone approach has been dumped,” said Mr Muir.
“This abandonment of protection zones that work, for an on-going risk taking experiment to carry away a bit more coal mining under our water catchments is exactly what it says it is; a bigger risk with a bit more management”, he said.
“Nothing will be protected in the Risk Management Zones, where streams and swamps and cliffs are flagged for further assessment. The age old cop out for miners when facing adverse political circumstances is that ‘more studies must be done’ and it is used by miners to stop any impact to that all-important bottom line”, Mr Muir said.
“The coal mining industry has got what it wanted out of this Inquiry; a bit more dirty coal,” he said.
“We should not be taking more risks with our essential catchments. We should be ensuring these precious areas are kept safe for the generations to come. Minister Frank Sartor has let us all down by failing to see the catchment damaging consequences of this risk management approach,” Mr Muir said.
“No more will protection be assured for essential streams and swamps. Instead, the coal mining industry will mine under its risk management zones. Its experts will then cook up experimental rehabilitation strategies, and a litany of further damage to the streams, swamps and catchments must surely be the result. Premier Iemma must stop the mining industry increased risk taking agenda within our drinking water catchments,” he said.
Uphold mining protection zones for our essential water supplies Mr Iemma!” said Mr Muir.
For more information contact: Keith Muir , (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (ah)
Joint Media Statement
Ban Multiseam coal mining
11 June 2008
“The NSW Government must ban the mining of multiple coal seams in drinking water supply catchments to avoid catastrophic damage to these essential resources.
“Gujarat NRE, the Indian coal mining giant, is working up plans for coal mining in the water supply catchments. These plans include mining multiple coal seams at the rebirthed Wongawilli mine (alias the Russel Vale mine), as well as mining under stored waters and near dam walls, said Mr Keith Muir, director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
Multiseam mining would not only have dire consequences of water catchments. It can be very risky for miners due to unstable ground, particularly as the coal seams are close together, which increases the risk of rock collapse ”, he said.
“Intensive longwall coal mining currently removes as much coal as possible from one seam, and this causes surface cracking. This cracking generally makes near surface groundwater drop, and that causes swamps and streams to dry up. The dried out swamps then erode away and the dry stream beds only carry water for a short time after rain,” said Mr Muir.
“Key subsidence experts report that the extent of damage from multiseam mining is just too unknown to make accurate predictions. We should not be conducting an extended high-risk experiment on the water supplies of 4.5 million people. Multiseam mining should be banned,” said David Burgess, Total Environment Centre's Natural Areas Campaigner.
“If multiseam coal mining in water supply catchment is not banned outright now; then the damage to our water supply catchments will be so severe that it will be banned later when damage has been done,” Mr Burgess said.
“The Minerals Council of NSW has claimed that water ‘flows back into the river a bit further down'. Putting the most favourable spin on the damage caused will make for interesting reading once multiseam mining starts”, he said.
“The proposed multiseam coal mining would multiply catchment impacts. Streams will be badly tilted sideways causing massive stream bank erosion and streams can even flow backwards”, said Mr Burgess.
For more
information contact:
Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (ah)
David Burgess (02) 9261 3437
Boost NSW Coal Royalties or future generations
will pay the price
3 June 2008
The Colong Foundation is disappointed that the Iemma Government has not raised coal royalties in today's budget in line with recent moves by Queensland. This may send a strong signal for miners to come and dig up NSW, but it will be at the expense of the environment.
“For years coal mining in NSW has undervalued its environmental damages. This is particularly true for water supply catchment areas. A higher and properly constructed coal royalty should create very strong incentives for miners to undertake adequate environment protection ,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
Coal is now worth almost ten times what it was a just few years ago. Just one ‘panel' of the ‘Bulli seam' coking coal commands a premier price of more than $100 million; so the needed catchment protection measures are currently being swept aside”, he said.
“Adequate protection of the water supply catchments will require more coal to be kept in the ground to stop the damage. Coal royalties need to accommodate these protection measures, as well as any remediation measures which are a second best solution,” Mr Muir said.
“Our water catchments are in very big trouble. For example, Gujarat NRE, the Indian mining giant, has proposed mining into the mine exclusion around a dam wall and under stored waters. These worrying proposals demonstrate that miners will keep pushing for more access into high impact/high risk mining areas unless the regulatory framework changes”, he said.
As coal mining accelerates with increasing coal prices, so is the mining damage. A sound royalty and protection framework must operate reverse this trend. If this trend continues then we will need more desalination plants and perhaps even a diversion from the Snowy scheme for Sydney 's water supplies,” he said.
“A new coal royalty and protection framework would ensure that future generations do not have to pay many billions to replace essential water supplies lost through today's high impact coal mining operations”, said Mr Muir.
For more information contact: Keith Muir , (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404 (ah)
See images of water catchment damage. Go to: www.colongwilderness.org.au/CatchmentMining/MiningDamage.htm
New Cloud Seeding Legislation could
put a dampener on the snow season
13 May 2008
“The NSW Government's plans to double the scale of the cloud seeding experiment in Kosciuszko National Park may cause more rain at the Mount Selwyn resort and kill off the endangered mountain pygmy possums. Legislation introduced by Steve Whan into the NSW Parliament last week seeks to extend the cloud seeding experiment into marginal snow areas where it is more likely to make rain, not snow,” warned Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“Cloud seeding can alter patterns of snow and rain, but it can't do anything about temperature. Temperatures are going up and the snow line must continue to rise in response to climate change. Snow dependent animals like the Mountain Pygmy Possum could freeze to death when rain produced by cloud seeding washes away the insulating winter blanket of snow in marginal snow areas”, he said.
“It appears that the $20 million cloud seeding experiment needs double the time and national park land because no clear benefits have been found”, Mr Muir said.
“The Snowy Hydro promise of 10 per cent more snow is totally contradicted by the 2007 Natural Resources Commission review report that states ‘[Snowy Hydro's] reporting does not provide any evidence to support claims of increased snowfall'.”
“When environmental risks are high and the chances of success low, then a precautionary approach is necessary. The inconclusive results and threat to endangered wildlife should justify the termination of cloud seeding in Kosciuszko National Park , rather than ramping the experiment up,” he said.
“Yet the NSW Government has demonstrated its insensitivity to the complexities of the issue by ensuring that cloud seeding legislation overrides all regulation through planning, wilderness and national park management laws. This exercise of political power over due process is likely to repeat the failures made over the last 60 years regarding cloud seeding, but this time in the environmentally most sensitive part of Australia”, he said.
It is a self evident fact that temperatures will continue to rise, the snow line must also rise, and rain will replace snow in marginal areas. The only snowstorm guaranteed to be created by the cloud seeding experiment will be that generated by NSW Government and Snowy Hydro in regard to the facts of the matter”, said Mr Muir.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404(m)
Environment Group supports TTF’s call for wilderness protection
6 March 2008
The Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) is to be congratulated for proposing the creation of wilderness reserves in Queensland, but park laws should not be rewritten to facilitate resort development in other park areas. Building resorts in national parks can never be design with nature.
“The TTF Queensland Action Plan released today is calling for government to set aside some national parks as wilderness. We welcome TTF’s recognition of protective role that wilderness plays in park management. Wilderness protection, however, is just one aspect of a broad agenda, that seeks to re-write park management laws for the benefit of the tourist industry. The TTF is simply trying to make park development initiative look good,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“TTF’s agenda is to remove the ‘road blocks’ from resort development in parks by building partnerships; it’s the old political tactic of divide and conquer”, Mr Muir said.
“TTF is correct to call for formal designation of wilderness in parks. However re-writing the Nature Conservation Act, 1992 to make tourism a principle objective would throw parks open to development,” he said.
“National Parks are lands set aside for nature, and allowing more commercial development in parks simply defeats the purpose of reserving national parks”, Mr Muir said.
“No wilderness areas are formally protected under the Nature Conservation Act in Queensland. Wilderness is protected ‘de facto’ in some national parks, such as Mount Barney, Hinchinbrook Island and Carnarvon. The Carnarvon and Hinchinbrook Island national parks have plans of management that designate large remote-natural zones with minimal or no visitor facilities and no motor vehicle access, except for management purposes. This is a step in the right direction but much more needs to be done,” Mr Muir said.
Most plans of management have tended to make such zones much smaller or provide none at all, which is disappointing”, he said.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404(m)
Crevasses put Dendrobium mine extension plans in doubt
2 February 2008
“Deep splits, a metre wide, have opened up in the water supply catchment due to underground mine at the BHP-Billiton’s Dendrobium colliery[1]. Unless mining intensity is greatly reduced, the currently proposed expansion plans for the Dendrobium mine should be rejected,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The coal mining in the water supply catchments south of Sydney seems to be out of control with new damage to our water catchments appearing almost every week. BHP-Billiton can write all the development proposal reports for its proposed Area 3 that it likes, but these unexpected metre wide crevasses cast the assurances of its experts into doubt,” Mr Muir said.
“Such huge cracks in the ground are caused by intensive longwall mining, and such damage to the catchments can’t be fixed”, he said.
“These deep, wide cracks are also a death trap to wildlife and force rainforest trees to topple”, Mr Muir said.
“BHP-Billiton’s extension plans for its Dendrobium Area 3 proposal will further crack the ground and comprehensively damage twenty upland swamps. In dry weather, these swamps are the fountainheads of streams in the catchment. Several swamps in the adjoining Elouera mine area have been destroyed by past longwall mining and the current proposals are more intense than the older operations”, said Mr Muir.
“Approvals for the proposed high intensity mining will cause the destruction of these headwater swamps. Unless the damage is prevented, the water yields of our pristine catchments will be reduced, on top of the predicted losses from climate change” he said.
“The coal mining industry has pushed the intensity of coal too far and has lost touch with reality. You don’t need to be an expert to understand what extensive surface cracks mean to a water supply catchment.”
“The mining industry should be less greedy, mine less intensely to protect Sydney’s essential water supplies. Continuing this level of mining intensity as proposed by BHP-Billiton will cause Sydney’s best water supply catchments to dry up”, said Mr Muir.
(images of crevasses in rainforest are available)
[1] Last month, David Burgess of Total Environment Centre, Julie Sheppard of the National Parks Association and myself were shown the damaging metre-wide deep crevasses only a kilometre from the stored waters of Lake Cordeaux on a Sydney Catchment Authority inspection.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404(m)
BHP-Billiton's Appin West mine threatens the Nepean River
30 January 2008
“BHP-Billiton’s Appin West Colliery has caused methane gas to bubble up in the Nepean River. Mining in Area 7 near the Nepean River commenced in November 2007 and has caused subsidence of the river bed. Yesterday a local conservationist and Rivers SOS spokesperson, Ms Caroline Graham, reported the emergence of flammable methane gas bubbles in the river, which is a sure indicator that the river bed beneath has been cracked,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“BHP-Billion had complained bitterly about being stopped from mining directly under the Nepean but has still mined far too close to the river. The methane gas has escaped from a geological trap beneath the river that has been cracked by the mining. There are fears that the methane escape will get worse and be associated with eco-toxic pollution,” he said.
“The methane may displace oxygen in the water column and with the potential emergence of eco-toxic groundwater cause a large plume of pollution that could seriously impact on the Nepean River’s ecology,” Mr Muir said.
“BHP-B has also successfully demanded from the NSW government access to the coal under part of the Upper Canal in compensation for the coal it claims to have lost under the Nepean. This deal set a very bad precedent for mining under essential infrastructure, a decision likely to be regretted by everyone concerned”, he said.
“The coal deal ignores the fact the coal is owned by the Crown, not by BHP-B who only have limited rights to mine it. The company has no right to expect access other areas in compensation for measures taken to protect rivers or catchment areas”, said Mr Muir.
“Will BHP-Billiton also demand access to other coal if it is stopped from mining under the Main Southern Railway line? Mr Muir asks. I expect this Line will be damaged and need ongoing repairs when longwall 703 is started next year“, he added.
“Protecting rivers, catchments and essential infrastructure such as railways and water supplies is essential to secure our healthy environment and a strong community. To claim that the coal retained in protection zones for these assets as a cost is nonsense; it is social capital that should remain wisely invested in our environment by keeping the coal in the ground”, Mr Muir said.
“BHP-Billiton should stop seeking to weaken protection measures and instead adequately protect our rivers, water supply catchments and essential infrastructure,” said Mr Muir.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404(m)
BHP-Billiton's Dendrobium proposal unacceptable
24 January 2008
“The NSW Government must reject BHP-Billiton’s bid to vastly expand its Dendrobium mine in the vulnerable water supply catchment behind Wollongong. The Dendrobium mine is damaging the Metropolitan Water Supply catchment beyond any sensible measure. The proposal announced on Monday is too big and damaging,” said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
“The twenty or more upland swamps within the proposed mining area are the fountainheads that supply water flows during low rainfall. These swamps are associated with perennial streams, not ‘ephemeral drainage lines’ as claimed. The evidence points to all these swamps being badly damaged during the proposed mining operations,” Mr Muir said.
BHP Billiton’s modeling predictions say that these upland swamps will be safe, but four large swamps on Native Dog Creek, Wongawilli Creek and Flying Fox Creek were wrecked by adjoining coal mining operations. The proposed Dendrobium mining is much more intense than at the old Elouera mine next door, and it follows it will cause more damage to the swamps. This common sense analysis is more reliable than the industry’s favourable modeling estimates”, said Mr Muir.
“Even the Dam Safety Committee, that nest of radical extremists, has been regularly intervening in Dendrobium’s mining operations to wind back the worst excesses. But our catchments are cracking up and our water supplies are draining away and this sort of damage is way outside the Committee’s brief”, he said.
“BHP-Billiton can commission another twenty kilos of reports for the proposal if it likes; the overwhelming on-ground hard evidence is that coal mining in the catchment is out of hand. How many eroded swamps, dead rivers poisoned by methane, cliff falls and cracked and dry stream beds does this Government require before it understands that the intensity of coal mining in the water supply catchments is too high? Mr Muir asks.
“If Frank Sartor and Ian Macdonald approve this high intensity coal mine, the NSW Government will be responsible for loss of water supplies, for landslides and cliff falls, and the destruction and erosion of at least twenty perennial headwater swamps, Mr Muir said.
“Eventually more desalination will be required to substitute for the damage caused by coal mining to these irreplaceable pristine catchments that we hold in trust for future generations. Those generations will rightly curse us for our greed when mining the ‘black diamond’ contained in the coal seams that underlie and support our essential water supply catchments,” said Mr Muir.
For more information contact: Keith Muir, (02) 9261 2400 (wk) or 0412 791 404(m)