An initiative of the Leard Forest Alliance

Photographic exhibition/multi media

Thursday, 10 July 2014 10AM-8PM
Exhibition Room, Crossing Theatre, Tibbereena St, Narrabri

Everyone is welcome to this free entry event with a programme of activities aimed at informing the community about the protests against the Maules Creek coal mine, and the destruction of Leard Forest. Guests will be greeted by the sound of Leard Forest birdsong, and reminded that this sound is doomed to be forever lost to the world if Maules Creek mine proceeds.

1. Photographic exhibition curated by The Wilderness Society

40 prints on exihibition are for sale, raising funds for the campaign to Save Leard Forest. This exhibition is touring Sydney – Melbourne – Armidale – Narrabri.

2. Film launch – “Fight for Leard Forest”

Fight for Leard Forest is a 20 minute documentary by filmmaker Leighton Donnelly, who captured footage over a period of several visits to the Leard Blockade.

This will be shown hourly, starting at 10:30AM until last showing at 5:30PM.

3. Panel discussion – 6-7PM

Why are so many people defying the law to save Leard Forest?

A panel of community members will explain why the Maules Creek coal mine should never have been approved, and the motivations which lead people to commit acts of civil disobedience to demonstrate against the actions of Whitehaven Co

Discussion chair: Mr Rohan Boehm, North West Alliance

Speakers:

Rev John Brentnall, Liverpool Plains Uniting Church Resource Minister, Gunnedah

Mr Raymond McLaren, Andromeda Industries, extractive specialist and engineer, Moonbi

Senior representative of the Gomeroi nation, Red Chief Local Aboriginal Lands Council (Invited)

Mr Murray Dreschler, co-founder Leard Blockade camp

4. Multi media exhibits

Slide shows explaining:

• The dispute concerning “biodiversity offsets”, undertakings by Whitehaven Coal to provide “like for like” habitat for the endangered species of Leard Forest , and
• How the protesters’ civil disobedience -non-violent direct action – differs from the alleged criminality of the Whitehaven Coal enterprise

5. Children’s activities “7 endangered birds of Leard Forest”

Unbeknownst to most people, Leard Forest is teeming with wildlife, and represents a unique and valuable ecosystem in which many plants and creatures are already listed by the NSW Scientific Committee as “vulnerable” or even “critically endangered” under NSW law. Koalas, microbats, snakes and birds are among the vanishing species.

Maules Creek coal mine threatens to make many of the bird species extinct. Children’s activities seek to inform children aged K-6 about 7 of the endangered bird species.

The Government is moving to annul the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 water trigger, brought into Commonwealth law last year to protect water resources from large coal mines and coal seam gas mining. A Bill currently in the parliament, and two agreements being prepared with NSW and Queensland will unwind the year-old law and hand decision making power on water over highly damaging mining projects to the coal States.

What is the water trigger?

• The water trigger has been part of Australian law for one year only: Saturday 21 June is the anniversary of its assent. It is given effect by virtue of s24D & 24E of the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act.
• These provisions mean that large coal mines and coal seam gas mining project that are likely to have a significant impact on water resources are considered Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES).
• As a result, these projects must be referred to the Federal Government and assessed in accordance with their requirements, and the Federal Environment Minister must give approval for them to go ahead.
• There are existing provisions in the EPBC Act that allow for Federal Governments to sign bilateral approval agreements with the States, and thus to effectively hand back decision-making powers – although no such agreements have ever been signed.
• But section 46 of the current EPBC Act specifically excludes the water trigger (as set down in ss24D & 24E) from being subject to these agreements and thus deliberately prevents such agreements from handing decision-making powers on water back to the States.
• In the twelve months since the water trigger came into effect, the trigger has been applied to 57 projects. Of these, seven coal mines and one coal seam gas project have since been approved. None have been rejected.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Bilateral Agreement Implementation) Bill 2014

• The Bill passed the Lower House of Federal Parliament on the 16 June.
• Schedule 3, Part 1 of the Bill, will hand sole decision-making power back to State Governments relating to water impacts for CSG and coal where a ‘bilateral agreement’ is in place.
• Draft bilateral agreements have already been developed for NSW and Queensland. The water trigger will still exist on paper, but it will be rendered completely meaningless.
• More broadly, this Bill changes the way that the Federal Government enters into agreements to hand decision making powers to the states for actions that impact on any MNES.
• This Bill removes the need for any Federal Government referral of projects, such that if a project is deemed to fall within the bilateral agreement scope, it is never considered by the Federal Government at all. Clause?
• This sweeping change applies to all MNES, including the water trigger provisions.
• It also provides that it will apply to referrals that were made before these changes were made to the Act, What Clause?

Why is the water trigger important?

• Water resources like the Murray Darling Basin, the Lake Eyre Basin and the Great Artesian Basin are important to the entire continent and its people and landscapes, and are at risk from coal and coal seam gas projects that have an irreversible impact on them.
• States Governments have an major self-interest in promoting gas and coal developments, as they receive royalties from them. The Federal Government, however, can take a broader perspective and look at the impacts across state boundaries and cumulative impacts.
• Some of the types of issues of concern in relation to water are as follows:
• Drinking water for Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney is supplied from water sources that are currently impacted or are threatened by coal and CSG.
• The Murray-Darling Basin is at risk from a substantial increase in salt load plus other contaminants as a result of discharges of CSG wastewater into creeks and rivers. Projects like APLNG already have approval to discharge treated wastewater into the Condamine River. This is likely to increase over time.
• The Great Artesian Basin is at risk from multiple coal and gas developments. The Pilliga Sandstone recharge area of the GAB is at risk from a major gas project near Narrabri. Wastewater storages have already contaminated local aquifers in the area, and penalties and prosecutions have been issued to Santos for pollution of waters and breaches of conditions.
• The Independent Expert Scientific Committee has warned that the Watermark and Caroona coal mines will together reduce the flow of the Namoi River by an amount equivalent to about half again the current surface water extraction below Keepit Dam, north of Gunnedah. Cumulative drawdown of the highly productive Namoi alluvial aquifer is predicted to exceed 2m.

Impact of the Lower House Amendment

• The amendment passed in the Lower House to the Bilateral Agreement Bill does not save the water trigger. All the amendment does is require that any bilateral agreement with the States that hands over decision-making power includes a provision requiring the States to seek and consider advice on water impacts from the Independent Expert Scientific Committee (IESC).
• This amendment has no effect in NSW, Victoria, Qld and South Australia, as they were already required to seek and consider such advice as part of the National Partnership Agreement on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development. Other states have very little coal or CSG resources and very little development planned, so the provision has extremely limited application.
• Notably, there is no requirement for the States to take the IESC advice – it has no standing in the decision-making process apart from a purely advisory one. This is no substitute for a proper Federal referral, assessment and decision-making process.

The bilateral approval agreements

• Two bilateral approval agreements are in preparation, one with New South Wales and one with Queensland. The agreements, if they are adopted, would broadly accredit the existing standard approval pathways for coal mines and coal seam gas projects in Qld and NSW as meeting Federal requirements.
• These agreements will create different standards and assessment processes for different states and result in the loss of standardised, consistent Federal process.

Media Release

4.10 PM 12.6.2014

Whitehaven Coal today has been forced to halt its winter clearing of the Leard State forest for a new open cut coal mine, in north-western NSW, following legal action by the Maules Creek Community Council.

Maules Creek Community Council spokesperson, Phil Laird said, “We are pleased that Whitehaven has been forced to respond to our legitimate challenge in the court by today undertaking to stop clearing in Leard State Forest”.

The community group, represented by environmental law experts, EDO NSW, sought an interim injunction in the NSW Land and Environment Court, to immediately stop the clearing during winter when animals, including threatened species, are hibernating in the forest.

“This outcome today is a huge relief for the Maules Creek community and everyone that loves the wildlife of Leard State Forest. The slaughter of hibernating bats and other animals over winter was an outrage that has been rightly stopped today” Mr Laird said.

A judgment in the case was expected at 4pm today after a hearing on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. However Whitehaven, instead has given an undertaking to the Court that it will halt the clearing until a full hearing on the matter, which is expected in early September.

The Maules Creek Community Council is arguing that Whitehaven is in breach of its development consent by winter/spring clearing of the forest. A breach of development consent contravenes the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

“This outcome today sends a strong message to coal mining companies across NSW and to the NSW Government – if they will not enforce the law, then the community is prepared to step up and do it themselves” Mr Laird said.

“We appreciate the action taken by Whitehaven today and we will be preparing to vigorously pursue the full legal challenge” he concluded.

The new Maules Creek coal mine project involves a total clearing of 1664 hectares of forest which provide habitat for threatened species including bats, koalas, forest owls, the Swift Parrot and the Regent Honeyeater.

Further comment: Phil Laird 0428 712 622; Lock the Gate Alliance Campaign Coordinator Carmel Flint 0400 521 474; EDO NSW: Jon Walter 0404 647 842

Media update

5.40 PM 11 June 2014

The injunction hearing that began yesterday morning in the NSW Land and Environment Court over clearing underway in Leard State Forest for the Maules Creek coal mine has concluded, and the Land and Environment Court has reserved judgement till 4pm Thursday afternoon.

The court has been hearing arguments all day in an urgent injunction hearing to stop operational clearing in the Leard Forest for the Maules Creek mine after a court case was lodged late on Friday.

The Maules Creek Community Council (MCCC) are arguing that work should stop at least while current court proceedings against Whitehaven Coal, relating to winter clearing in the forest, are underway.

EDO contact Jon Walter 0404 647 842

Lock the Gate’s Carmel Flint is available in Sydney 0400 521 474

Media release

4.57 PM 10 June 2014

The injunction hearing that began this afternoon in the NSW Land and Environment Court over clearing underway in Leard State Forest for the Maules Creek coal mine has been adjourned until 10am tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

The court this morning granted a hearing for an urgent injunction to stop operational clearing in the Leard Forest for the Maules Creek mine after a court case was lodged late on Friday.

The injunction application will resume at 10am on Wednesday 11 June at Court 10B of the NSW Land and Environment Court, Level 4, 225 Macquarie St, Sydney.

The Maules Creek Community Council (MCCC) are arguing that work should stop at least while current court proceedings against Whitehaven Coal, relating to winter clearing in the forest, are underway.

Further comment: Phil Laird 0428 712 622

EDO contact Jon Walter 0404 647 842

Lock the Gate’s Carmel Flint is available in Sydney 0400 521 474

12.012 PM 10.6.2014

Media release

The NSW Land and Environment Court has granted a hearing for an urgent injunction to stop operational clearing in the Leard Forest at a hearing in the NSW Land and Environment Court.

The injunction application will be heard this afternoon at 3:30pm at the NSW Land and Environment Court at Court 10B, Level 4, 225 Macquarie St, Sydney.

The Maules Creek Community Council (MCCC) are arguing that work should stop at least while current court proceedings against Whitehaven Coal, relating to winter clearing in the forest, are underway.

Late on Friday the MCCC, represented by law experts EDO NSW, launched legal action to stop clearing of the Leard Forest for the Maules Creek Coal Mine near Narrabri in north-west NSW.

The civil enforcement proceedings argue that Whitehaven is in breach of its development consent by clearing the forest during the winter months when animals, including threatened species, are hibernating.

Spokesman for the MCCC Phil Laird said, “We believe that the clearing of Leard Forest during the winter months is unlawful and while that legal argument is heard in court, work at the site needs to cease.

“We are seeking an urgent injunction to stop the bulldozers from flattening anymore of this unique and fragile ecosystem.”

Further comment: Phil Laird 0428 712 622

EDO contact Jon Walter 0404 647 842

Lock the Gate’s Carmel Flint is available in Sydney 0400 521 474

Media Release 10.36AM  10 June 2014

The Maules Creek Community Council is applying for an urgent injunction to stop operational clearing in the Leard Forest at a hearing in the NSW Land and Environment Court underway now.

The MCCC are arguing that work should stop at least while current court proceedings against Whitehaven Coal, relating to winter clearing in the forest, are underway.

Late on Friday the MCCC, represented by law experts EDO NSW, launched legal action to stop clearing of the Leard Forest for the Maules Creek Coal Mine near Narrabri in north-west NSW.

The civil enforcement proceedings argue that Whitehaven is in breach of its development consent by clearing the forest during the winter months when animals, including threatened species, are hibernating.

Spokesman for the MCCC Phil Laird said, “We believe that the clearing of Leard Forest during the winter months is unlawful and while that legal argument is heard in court, work at the site needs to cease.

“We are seeking an urgent injunction to stop the bulldozers from flattening anymore of this unique and fragile ecosystem.”

Arguments are currently underway at the NSW Land and Environment Court, at Court 10B, Level 4, 225 Macquarie St, Sydney 

Further comment: Phil Laird 0428 712 622

EDO contact Jon Walter 0404 647 842

Lock the Gate’s Carmel Flint is at the court this morning 0400 521 474

Dear all,

We have an urgent action we need you to demand that Environment Minister Rob Stokes stands up for the animals of Leard Forest and doesn’t weaken conditions imposed on the Maules Creek mine project for their protection.

Whitehaven Coal has approval to clear thousands of hectares of the Leard State Forest for their Maules Creek coal mine in North West NSW, including habitat for dozens of threatened species.

• The approval was subject to “strict conditions” to ameliorate the impact of this loss of so much bushland, including the need for a Biodiversity Management Plan to minimise the impact on wildlife clearing takes place for the mine.
• The current Biodiversity Management Plan includes a commitment by Whitehaven that clearing will only take place in late summer and early autumn in order to avoid key breeding and hibernation seasons for threatened birds, mammals and reptiles.
• Many animal species, including threatened bats, gliders and reptiles, go into a kind of hibernation during winter. If clearing occurs in winter, they are at the mercy of the bulldozers and cannot escape. Even if they survive the clearing, with their habitat gone, they are at the mercy of predators. It would be a massacre.
• For this reason, all of the mines in the area have conditions to not clear the bush during this period: but last week, we got word that the NSW Department of Environment and Heritage is secretlu negotiating to change this condition for Maules Creek, and allow clearing of large areas of Leard State Forest over this winter.

The Maules Creek Community Council wrote to the Environment and Planning Ministers asking them to intervene to protect the animals of Leard State Forest, but we think the changes will be granted to accommodate Whitehaven’s desire to keep destroying the forest to meet their coal production timeline.

Can you call Environment Minister Rob Stokes today and ask him to call off the bulldozers and protect the wildlife of Leard forest over the winter?

His electorate office number is (02) 9999 3599

His Ministerial office number is (02) 9228 5253

If you want to email him about your concerns, contact him here: office@stokes.minister.nsw.gov.au

The animals will be subjected to terrible cruelty if they’re allowed to go ahead, and all because a coal company can’t respect the rules and wait for three months.

More detail

• Clearing the forest in winter will result in the displacement, injury or death of over seventy species of hibernating reptiles and frogs, bats and small marsupials that are sheltering in the hollow trees and logs to be cleared. Those few that do escape the dozers will be likely be taken by predators.
• The Biodiversity management Plan can be changed at the stroke of a pen – the Minister must insist that bureaucrats in the Department of Environment and Planning stand up for the wildlife and prevent clearing taking place over winter.
• This changing of the rules just goes to show how serious the government and Whitehaven are about protecting the threatened species. Here are some species that will be affected: Pale-headed Snake, Little Pied bat, Corben’s Long-eared bat, Yellow-bellied Sheathtail bat, and Squirrel Glider, and Barking Owls which begin to nest in winter. All will be subjected to displacement, injury, or death.
• All the other mining projects in the area have conditions that prevent them clearing in winter to protect the wildlife, without that winter protection the animals don’t stand a chance.

Please call him now, and share this message, to get the word out.

Media Release – 15 May 2014

The Leard Forest Alliance says Whitehaven Coal has been secretly negotiating changes to its Biodiversity Management Plan with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment to allow them to keep clearing Leard State Forest over winter, in a move that will lead to widespread cruelty and death of threatened species and other wildlife.

The Plan previously required Whitehaven to avoid clearing in the winter months, because many species of wildlife go into hibernation or torpor, which prevents them being able to escape from bull-dozers and predators and dramatically increases the risk of death or injury.

Phil Laird said, “The Maules Creek Community Council wrote to the Environment and Planning Ministers through our lawyers this week asking them to intervene to protect the animals of Leard State Forest, but we have received word that these changes will be granted to accommodate Whitehaven’s desire to keep destroying the forest to meet their coal production timeline.

“We are frankly appalled that conditions put in place to protect wildlife would be torn up so easily by the Department of Environment and Planning. NSW has a new Premier, a new Environment Minister and a new Minister for Planning, but it seems we’ve still got the same old system that gives coal companies whatever they want, whenever they want it.

“The conditions, offsets strategy and environmental management of this mine are in tatters. We’ve been told that the wildlife will relocate when the clearing happens, but without this winter protection, that’s just not possible.”

Ecologist Phil Spark said, “Clearing the forest in winter will result in the displacement, injury or death of over seventy species of hibernating reptiles and frogs, bats and small marsupials that are sheltering in the hollow trees and logs to be cleared.  Those few that do escape the dozers will be likely be taken by predators.

“The Department is changing the rules to suit Whitehaven Coal and the wildlife of Leard State Forest is going to suffer and die as a result. Threatened snakes and bats, Squirrel Gliders and the Barking Owls which begin to nest in winter – all will be subjected to displacement, injury, or death.

“The other mining projects in the area have conditions that prevent them clearing in winter to protect the wildlife: without that winter protection the animals don’t stand a chance.”

Phil Laird concluded, “We’re pleading with the Environment Minister, Rob Stokes, to step in and stop this cruel and unnecessary haste and tell Whitehaven to stop clearing while the animals are hibernating.”

Letter to Ministers can be downloaded here.

Further comment:

Phil Laird: 0428 712 622

Phil Spark: 0427 642 245

Whitehaven released its Mar’2014 quarterly result this week. After a very strong first half 2013/14 production result, the last quarter was well below forecast. Key details:

• The key variance was on the coal production target. Total production for 2013/14 is now guided to 9.9Mt (100% basis), 11% below the 11.0Mt target management set back in Sept’2013. Narrabri was disrupted by equipment relocation, and Tarrawonga and Rocglen both went backwards.
• The second key variance is the very weak coal price. Whitehaven expects a fall in metallurgical coal prices in the June quarter to about $US93/t, down 8% from the Mar’2014 quarter. Thermal prices hit US$73/t at the end of Apr’2014, down 6% on the Mar’2014 quarter average.
• Most commodity analysts have a recovery back above US$80/t as their base case for 2014 and 2015 – so expect another round of forecast downgrades to emerge if the coal price remains at current levels. Whitehaven acknowledged weak seaborne coal demand out of China was a key negative.
• Even though Whitehaven management keeps talking about coking coal, its Mar’2014 quarter production was 83% thermal coal, the lower margin product.
• Whitehaven is now forecast to report a net loss of A$30-50m in 2013/14. The market had assumed at the start of this financial year that the company would bounce back to profit this year, but this has been pushed back a year to 2014/15. A high A$, low thermal coal price and /or further delays at Maules Creek would push that out further.
• The result release details the Maules Creek project ramp-up timetable, purporting to all be on-time and on-budget. However, management now target initial run-of-mine production of 6Mtpa, and then “over a period of three years to ramp up to 13.0Mtpa ROM coal as additional equipment is sourced for the mine and markets are developed for the coal.” This is very different to the 11-13Mt forecast for 2015/16 by the CEO in Aug’2013.
• The WHC stock price is down 25% year-on-year (yoy) in an overall market that is up 6% yoy.

The full report is available at:

http://member.afraccess.com/media?id=CMN://2A794526&filename=20140429/WHC_01512245.pdf