$725m saviour or ‘terrible devastation’?

IT’S the $725 million project that has divided a community straight down the middle. Now it’s crunch time.

Rock singer Jimmy Barnes is one of the more high profile Southern Highlands locals in protest of the project.

IT’S the $725 million project that has divided a community for years.

Now it’s headed to Parliament.

The NSW Southern Highlands’ fight against a proposed Hume Coal Mine is set to be officially debated following the community’s petition to stop construction of the mine reaching over 16,000 signatures.

The petition was handed over on August 1 to local member Pru Goward and, despite only needing 10,000 signatures to trigger a NSW Government Parliamentary debate, local activist group Battle for Berrima continued to campaign for signatures in order to make a greater impact.

The controversial proposal would see coal-handling facilities, stockpiles and railways constructed as part of an underground mining project to mine over three million tonnes of coking coal each year for steel production.

Hume Coal and Southern Highlands locals have been battling for years, ever since parent company, South Korean giant POSCO, acquired the portion of land straddling the Hume Highway between Sutton Forest and Berrima in 2010.

The ferocity of the battle heightened in July 2015 when the company announced plans to build a mine head at Berrima to commence large scale coal mining in the area. Then six months ago, Battle for Berrima started the petition that rapidly reached 16,000 signatures.

PETITION SCANDAL

The petition has been condemned by Hume Coal, which claims the system was rorted because the majority of the signatures were from anti-coal groups across the state.

Representative for Hume Coal Ben Fitzsimmons said: “Battle for Berrima paraded the petition as 16,000 local signatures by people from the Highlands and that there’s a majority opposition to this project.

“[But] the petition has been available online since its inception and it is known that local anti-coal groups have called on support from state wide organisations to boost the numbers of the petition when these people have no real understanding of the project, of the benefits to this region that desperately needs jobs and no understanding of the commitment Hume Coal has made to protecting the environment with an innovative and world-class mining operation, one the world hasn’t seen before.”

Member for Goulburn Pru Goward countered with a statement to ABC emphasising that democracy is not to be dependent on where you live but is instead based on what ordinary people believe and think.

Battle for Berrima’s committee member Michael Verberkt defended the alleged petition rort, claiming Hume Coal had been aware for months of the petition stands in Berrima, Bowral and other Southern Highlands towns. He said Hume Coal was also aware Battle for Berrima was garnering the support of countless businesses who agreed to leave petitions in their shops.

Mr Verberkt said he doesn’t “understand why Hume Coal is attacking the people of the Southern Highlands by questioning the legitimacy of the petition when they have been well aware of our stand in Berrima for the last six months”.

“They should be working harder to get people on board,” he added.

The petition is concerning not only for Hume Coal’s potential project but also for the region’s entire coal industry as it seeks a “moratorium be placed on any current or proposed mining or extraction related activity in the Southern Highlands, above and below the surface until the enactment of the requested legislation”.

A number of collieries and a large cement plant currently operate in the region.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

Battle for Berrima and the rest of those opposed liken mining underneath a fragile sandstone aquifer to taking a plug out of a bath.

“The effect it will have on the aquifer and water supply is not just effecting the residents of the Southern Highlands, we are part of the Sydney water catchment so if anything happens to our water here, it will effect the five million people downriver in Sydney,” Mr Verberkt said.

Hume Coal argued there would be no impact on Sydney’s water supply.

“It is just another example of the anti-coal group trying to illicit that emotional fear in the project and garner more support for their agenda for people outside of the Southern Highlands that have no real understanding of any of the issues,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.

Another issue raised was the release of coal dust from the mine and transporting the coal.

At the petition handover on Monday, Minister Goward cited the historical significance of Berrima as being the second oldest and most significant Georgian heritage town in Australia, compelling the community to think of Berrima covered in coal dust and said it would be a “terrible devastation”.

Countering this, Mr Fitzsimmons said Hume Coal had committed to covering their coal wagons — a first for the state and the coal industry — and said the dust impacts coming from the stockpiles were nearly immeasurable.

Members of the Southern Highlands community stand during a protest in Sydney.

CREATION OF JOBS

Hume Coal has pledged over 300 jobs will be made available from 2020 as well as 400 more jobs required for construction if the mine goes ahead. Ms Goward told WIN News the mine posed too much of a risk to the area’s natural resources, regardless of jobs provided.

“It’s with a heavy heart, because obviously as a Liberal you’d like to support economic development but I just don’t think this is right for this area and this water supply,” Ms Goward said.

There is also fear from the local community that despite short-term economic benefits from the Hume Project, it will have a greater impact on existing long-term jobs and a sustainable economy in the Highlands, much of which comes from agriculture and tourism revenue.

Mr Fitzsimmons used the Hunter Valley as an example. The region has seen constant tourism growth while also housing one of the largest coal mining industries in Australia. He claims the proposed location of the Hume coal mine is virtually invisible to visitors to the Southern Highlands.

A recent study from the Brotherhood of St Laurence ranked the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven area with the eighth highest rate of youth unemployment in the country. The area also saw the recent announcement of Swiss miner Glencore’s decision to close its Tahmoor coal mine by 2019. As a result, not all Southern Highlands locals are opposed to the Hume Coal Mine Project.

Lee Webb, from the United Mine Workers, told the ABC a coal mine in the area could offer young people an opportunity for skilled employment.

“There is skilled labour in this district now that could work in a coal mine and they are moving outside and travelling outside the district to find work,” he said. “A mine in the area would significantly help the younger people get a job in this industry.”

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

In early February, Hume Coal pledged to WIN Illawarra they would hold more community information sessions in May, following six information sessions in 2015.

May came and went and no information session was held, which former President of Battle for Berrima Jock Pharey said was “a sign of the level of contempt held for the community that Hume Coal failed to publicly notify the Southern Highlands Community that it no longer intended to conduct the sessions”.

Mr Fitzsimmons said there were no sessions because they were continuing to work on their Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and had nothing new to present.

At a meeting in 2015, a member from a local anti-coal group spoke up, saying Hume Coal was not committed to the people of Berrima and neighbouring town Medway, the communities that will be most affected and they were unwilling to meet with them. In response, Hume Coal purchased a shop front in Berrima that is now staffed with technical experts four days a week.

Mr Fitzsimmons said the company was disappointed as “the groups complaining about the project have not come into the shop to speak with us”.

“Having said that, we get a huge amount of people coming in asking about jobs,” he added.

THE FUTURE

The 16,000-strong petition will soon be tabled in Parliament and the day of debate will be decided in the next couple of weeks. Hume Coal’s release of their EIS is expected by the end of the year.

Anti-coal groups throughout the Southern Highlands have vowed to attend Parliament on the day of debate “en masse” and have announced a convoy of buses. Mr Verberkt said Hume Coal “speak with forked tongue”.

“They say one thing and do another,” he said, adding he was confident in the petition, the democratic process and their overwhelming public support.

Mr Fitzsimmons, on the other hand, said with the region’s strong background in mining and manufacturing, as well as its need for industry and investment, local support will continue to sway in their favour.

“We know we’re a controversial coal mining project but we see no reason why our project can’t be a success for everyone,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.

“We want to emphasise why we’re different and what we’re committing to do from the start, which is, provide hundreds of jobs and mine with almost no impact to the environment.”