Not Just a Coalmine: Shifting Grounds of Community Opposition to Coal Mining in Southeastern Australia

Abstract

For almost three decades, open cut coal mines have been expanding deeper into the densely settled agricultural landscape of the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. The mines have become increasingly profitable for Australian and multinational companies, and Newcastle, the capital of the Hunter region, is now the world's largest black coal exporting port. Despite the significant new wealth that mining has brought, those residing in proximity to mines and coal-fired power stations in the Hunter Valley have long struggled against the deleterious effects on health, rural livelihoods and environment. In recent years, opposition has widened to a more activist environmentalism that links the coal economy to climate change, global warming and other cumulative health and environmental effects. The organisational scale of the opposition has correspondingly widened to interconnect local residents, Green political parties and transnational organisations such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund. Using the Anvil Hill open cut mine proposal as an example, this paper examines the shifting grounds of environmental knowledge and oppositional practices by coal-affected residents of the Hunter Valley.

Keywords:

• Coal mining
• climate change
• environment
• activism
• Australia
• community groups

Acknowledgements

The research was funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects DP0558051 and DP0878089.

Notes

Bulk samples are conducted using mining equipment to dig up a designated area to gather material to ‘test the mineral bearing qualities of the land’ (NSW Department of Planning, 2005. Coal Mining Potential in the Upper Hunter Valley – Strategic Assessment. Sydney: NSW Department of Planning). This sampling is undertaken to determine whether a full-scale coal mining operation would be viable.

The Bill gives the Minister discretionary powers to define certain mining proposals as ‘critical infrastructure projects’ and to approve those projects on the basis that they are of State economic, social or environmental significance. The Bill has the effect of reducing the ability of communities and local governments to have input into mining developments that are assessed under Part 3A to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (EP & A Act) (Johnson E. 2005. Report on the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Infrastructure and Other Planning Reform) Bill 2005. Sydney: Nature Conservation Council of NSW. http://www.nccNSW.org.au/index.php?searchword=environmental+planni&option=com_search&Itemid= (accessed 24 July 2006).

Under the act the Minister is required to consider whether a development is a ‘controlled action’ (i.e., whether it is likely to have a significant impact on matters protected by Part 3 of the EPBC Act); and whether it is a ‘jurisdictional fact’ that the project is likely to pose a significant impact on World Heritage Areas like the Great Barrier Reef and the Blue Mountains Wilderness Area and threatened species. See Ruddock (n.d.) Climate Change at a Local Level: Using the Law to Achieve Change? Sydney: Environmental Defender's Office NSW, p. 5.

In 2004, Centennial had secured a long-term coal supply contract with the NSW government owned Hunter Valley power generation company Macquarie Generation which was due to run from 2008 to 2020 (Centennial Coal 2004). This contract remains in place following the sale of the mine site to Xstrata. Under the current agreement, 80% of Mangoola coal will be supplied to Macquarie Generation power stations in the Upper Hunter (Bayswater and Liddell) for the first 12 years of domestic production. The remaining 20% of coal will be exported. This mine is thus largely protected from falls in the price of coal since September 2008 that will impact heavily on more export-oriented coal miners in the Hunter Valley.

In Australia ‘feral’ describes a domesticated animal that has gone wild but also has various other meanings related to people: e.g., ‘a person living outside the home environment; a person who is wild in behaviour; a person living an alternative lifestyle’ (Australian National Dictionary Centre, Canberra: ANU. http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/res/aus_words/aewords/aewords_cg.php (accessed 20 November 2008).

PWCS is also owned by coal companies with Hunter valley mining interests (Trounson 2007), including Xstrata.

Those who sold their properties to the company often moved out of the region and away from any engagement with the conflict.