Sign our petition calling on the EPA to do what it takes to make Centennial clean up its act. 

Centennial Coal’s scaled back proposal to dump toxic coal mine wastewater into Sydney’s drinking water catchment has been approved by the Independent Planning Commission.

Thanks to community opposition, this is a ‘less bad’ outcome than what was originally proposed: to dump the dirty water into the dam over a 15-year period, but it’s still unacceptable.

The battle is not over and we need your help. We expect Centennial to submit another proposal in coming weeks to dump up to 26.5 million litres of stored wastewater daily from coal mine operations into pristine waterways leading to Warragamba Dam. 

Centennial Coal has not adopted technology that effectively cleans the wastewater of heavy metals, brine and salt toxic to aquatic life in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.  

If we don’t act now, it’s possible the NSW government will let Centennial get away with the unconscionable and release millions of litres of toxic wastewater every single day on our doorstep. 

A flood of toxic water 

Centennial’s underground coal mining has damaged groundwater flows under the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area. To stop the resulting influx of groundwater into underground coal mines, Centennial removes more than 20 billion litres of groundwater every year, interrupting groundwater supply and drying out peat swamps. 

An underground wall ​stores groundwater​​ within the disused Angus Place mine​.  

An appalling track record 

Over a 23-year period, Centennial has been found to have breached its environmental licence more than 1400 times across 7 coal mine sites in the Greater Blue Mountains region. 

However, this may be just the tip of the iceberg, as ​some ​non-compliances appear to have gone unreported by the company but have been discovered by third parties and later verified​ or acted on by the EPA. 

• Lithgow Environment Group has conducted water monitoring in the Upper Coxs river catchment since 2006 including at Centennial licensed water discharge points and publishes their findings online.  

Expansion plans 

Centennial has already shown its hand. As part of its extension plans for the proposed Angus Place West coal mine, Centennial previously applied to discharge 10 million litres of dirty water daily directly into the creek. This wasn’t approved. 

It needs to remove the water to extend the mine: coal and water don’t mix.  

The Angus Place West mine proposes to mine 2 million tonnes of coal annually with impacts on climate, water quality, First Nations sites and in a place with 80 rare and threatened species and 16 threatened ecological communities. This proposal at Angus Place West has not yet been approved.

Read our report -  Centennial Coal: Environmental Scorecard in the Gardens of Stone