Water wisdom lacking in race for coal, say farmers

FAR beneath the Liverpool Plains lie two resources of untold value: a vast, underground water system and millions of tonnes of coal.

FAR beneath the Liverpool Plains lie two resources of untold value: a vast, underground water system and millions of tonnes of coal.

The water is the lifeblood of the agricultural industry in northwest NSW while the coal is potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 30 years.

But according to local farmer Tim Duddy, the damage that the proposed mining project in the Liverpool Plains could cause goes beyond dollars and cents.

Mr Duddy warns that the region's smaller communities would cease to exist if the state government gives Chinese-controlled mining giant Shenhua the green light to extract coal.

The key concern is that the large-scale mining project will contaminate the underground aquifers and ruin the local agricultural industry forever.

"If they destroy some or all of the water resources here, then it would be devastating in terms of people being able to live here, work here, grow crops here. They won't be able to operate their business as we know it," Mr Duddy told The Australian as he looked across his family's 2950ha grain, cotton and cattle farm at Breeza Plains, just outside of Gunnedah, 400km northwest of Sydney.

Over the past two years, Shenhua has spent more than $200 million on the purchase of 43 farms across the Liverpool Plains, securing the land ahead of their planned 30-year mining project which the company hopes will result in the extraction of hundreds of millions of tonnes of coal.

Shenhua representatives say the project will have no adverse impact on either the region's prime agricultural land.

They insist they will not mine the valuable black soil, only the non-harvested red soil; nor will they damage the underground water system.

Shenhua has already started exploratory drilling on some of the farms it now owns, as it is entitled to do.

Final approval of the project, which will result in three open mines being developed, is in the hands of the state government, with assessments of various environmental impact studies to be determined next year.

But Mr Duddy fears that the massive amounts of money being thrown around by Shenhua, and the potential royalties for the state's coffers, will seduce the state government into making what he calls a "catastrophically short-sighted" decision.

"To put at risk the productivity of these black-soil plains, and the water resources that underlay them, would be the greatest act of environmental vandalism in the history of mankind," he said.

"Once they are destroyed, there is no turning back.

"There is no way to unscramble the egg and fix the water resources, and we need people to be responsible here to ensure that the greatest travesty in agricultural history doesn't occur."