Don't Be Fooled By The 'success' Of Remediation
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday November 26, 2008
Ann Young was correct in highlighting the Band-Aid nature of the so-called repair to the cracking caused by longwall mining beneath the Waratah Rivulet, a feeder tributary of the Woronora Dam ("Cure for cracked river riles greens", November 25).
One needs to question Peabody Energy's financial ability to repair all past and future predicted and unpredicted damage to this waterway if 60,000 litres of polyurethane resin was needed to temporarily plug one limited set of rock cracks. A quick search on the internet reveals that polyurethane resin costs about $50 a litre - that's $3 million for materials alone. Even at bulk discount rates, this "showpiece" repair is likely to have cost a lot of money.It is perhaps no surprise that the current environmental assessment for a 23-year longwall mining expansion plan uses this "success" as detailed evidence for the company's ability to remediate future subsidence cracks in other parts of the catchment. No costing is given for this trial project, nor predictions made of the cost of future remediation."Compensatory contributions" proposed by the company of $1.4 million for activities such as research and monitoring will not go far.The environmental assessment spends far more space scratching its own back on this limited trial success than on how to avoid the impacts in the first place. The State Government should see this as an extension of a pattern of industry spin justifying corporate vandalism that has left many river systems severely compromised.It is time for the Government to ensure adequate longwall setbacks from significant natural features so that the people of NSW are not left with the bill for trying to fix ecosystems damaged even more by the coal industry.Gary Schoer Oatley
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald