Two new independent expert ecologists have confirmed that
Whitehaven Coal provided false and misleading information to State and
Federal Governments in order to get approval for its controversial
Maules Ck coal mine, near Narrabri. The Maules Creek Community Council
is calling for Environment Minister Greg Hunt to revoke the approval.
Based on detailed
knowledge of the native vegetation communities in the Mt Kaputar area
the experts agree that the biodiversity offsets proposed by Whitehaven
were mapped incorrectly, and contained a common vegetation type, not the
endangered ecosystem claimed by Whitehaven.
State and Federal Governments both approved the Whitehaven coal mine
on the grounds that the biodiversity offsets contained identical
endangered ecosystems that would 'substitute' for the endangered
ecosystem that would be bulldozed for the mine.
”I know that at least four areas on the ‘Wirradale’ and ‘Mt Lindesay’
offset properties do not constitute the Critically Endangered
Ecological Community (CEEC) that is protected under the Federal EPBC
Act.” said ecologist Wendy Hawes.
“I fully concur with the January findings of North West Ecological
Services that the dominant vegetation community in areas mapped by the
proponent as White Box grassy woodland was in fact Stringybark Open
Forest.” she said.
“Evidence provided by these two new experts indicate that Whitehaven
Coal stand to make many millions of dollars from a new coal mine that
was approved on the basis of false information" said Phil Laird
spokesperson for the Maules Creek Community Council.
"This coal mine raises very serious questions about the integrity of
the mine approval process, the failure of government departments to
check the data provided by mining companies and possibly the quality of
existing vegetation mapping in NSW.
“The new information is in the hands of Federal Environment
Minister, Greg Hunt, and we are urging him to suspend the approval until
the ongoing federal investigation into this issue is complete." he
said.
“If the approval was based on false information, the approval should
be revoked as the community can have no confidence in the mining
assessment process if this kind of debacle is allowed to stand.
The two confirming expert opinions come as the Burke approval is being challenged in the Federal Court. On the 16th
of September 2012 the Northern Inland Council for the Environment
commenced judicial review proceedings against the decision made by the
former Environment Minister following the leaking of a letter by the NSW
State Government. A decision is pending.
For Comment: Wendy Hawes ph 0408 224 997 Phil Laird: 0428 712 622
Report: Review of NWES field assessment report by Peter Richards is available
here.
