15 December, 2015
Wildlife corridor severed if Mt Owen mine approved
Koalas, quolls, and squirrel gliders in the Hunter Valley will lose another piece of critical habitat if mining giant Glencore is permitted to expand its Mt Owen coal mine and sever a vital wildlife corridor between bushland remnants.
The NSW Government’s Planning Assessment Commission will conduct a public hearing into the company’s plans at Singleton Diggers Club from 12.30pm today, at which the NSW Nature Conservation Council will make a presentation. [1]
“Half of Ravensworth State Forest, a wildlife hotspot in the Hunter Valley, has already been destroyed by Glencore when it cut it down and dug it up for the original Mount Owen open-cut coal mine,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski said.
“Now Glencore has come back to take more of the little that is left. This project would destroy a large part of one of the few remaining areas of significant remnant native vegetation in the central Hunter Valley so mining giant Glencore can mine polluting coal that the world doesn’t need.
“The Mount Owen mine expansion will destroy endangered woodlands and grasslands that provide vital habitat for 29 threatened species, including spotted-tailed quoll, koala, squirrel glider, several species of micro-bat, the swift parrot, and the masked owl.
“Quolls will be particularly hard hit. Glencore’s new proposal will divide the local population of spotted-tail quolls into two smaller groups, which will result in inbreeding that will risk dooming these populations to extinction.”
The 92 million tonnes of coal that Glencore wants to extract over 15 years will, when burnt, produce emissions equivalent to 7 million Australian households.
“It is absolutely shameful how Premier Baird’s government is allowing coal companies to trash our natural heritage – our unique Australian bush animals and pure water supplies – while the rest of the world is moving away quickly from fossil fuels,” Ms Smolski said.
“At today’s hearing, we’ll call on the Baird government to preserve the natural heritage of the Hunter and develop a just transition plan that gives the Hunter community a more sustainable and less destructive path to prosperity.”
[1] http://www.pac.nsw.gov.au/Projects/tabid/77/ctl/viewreview/mid/462/pac/510/view/readonly/myctl/rev/Default.aspx
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Coal and gas
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