Skip navigation

Decision on Dendrobium Mine damages future jobs and the environment

profile image
Cate Faehrmann
NSW Greens MP
6 December 2021

In a blow to workers and campaigners in the Illawarra calling for investment in a jobs rich renewable energy zone with investment in green steel the NSW Government has instead paved the way for an expansion of the Dendrobium coal mine.

NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole and Planning Minister Rob Stokes have pushed forward with Dendrobium's controversial coal mine expansion underneath Sydney's water catchment, declaring it State Significant Infrastructure (SSI), despite the Independent Planning Commission categorically ruling out the project earlier this year.

The Independent Planning Commission ruled that Dendrobium's controversial coal mine expansion underneath Sydney's water catchment would have unacceptable impacts to water security as well as biodiversity, threatened ecological communities and cause irreversible damage to 58 identified Aboriginal cultural artefacts and values. It also found the mine would cause serious degradation to  25 watercourses and swamps in Metropolitan Special Area.

Greens MP and Water spokesperson Cate Faehrmann said,

 "This is a huge kick in the guts for the community which has been fighting hard to protect our water catchments from coal mining and hoping for a green steel industry for the Illawarra.

"I've seen for myself the damage that longwall mining does, having visited creeks and wetlands that have literally dried up because of the subsidence that occurs from mines underneath or nearby.

"The IPC report should have spelled the end for longwall mining anywhere near our water catchments. Instead the NSW Government's ideological obsession with coal means they just can't let it go, and it's our environment, waterways and climate that will pay the price.

Greens MP and Energy Spokesperson David Shoebridge said:

"This decision by the Coalition is a double attack on future jobs and the environment.

"What the Illawarra needs right now is a surge of public and private investment in renewable energy and green steel, not another coal mine.

 "The Greens are committed to building the Illawarra's growth industries which is why we have supported renewable energy zones and obtained $50 million of public investment in green hydrogen. This is where jobs growth will come from, not from another 20th century coal mine.

"We know there are years of secure coking coal supply for Bluescope without the Dendrobium extension so this makes no economic or environmental sense, it is clearly all about ideology and politics," Mr Shoebridge said.

 

profile image
Cate Faehrmann
NSW Greens MP
6 December 2021
SHARE:

THE LATEST NEWS

MEDIA RELEASE

Dungowan Dam Cancellation a Win for Communities and Common Sense

The cancellation of Dungowan Dam is a win for communities and for common sense says Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and water spokesperson, after NSW Minister for Water Rose Jackson announced that the Government would not be going ahead with the project in Question Time in the NSW Legislative Council today. ...

MEDIA RELEASE

Minns & Perrottet must commit to phasing out coal mining in Sydney’s Water Catchment

Dominic Perrottet and Chris Minns must commit to ruling out any new longwall mining in Sydney’s water catchment as well as a timetable to phase it out after it was revealed that one of the last actions by the NSW National Party Water Minister was to hand out water licences...

MEDIA RELEASE

Greens Announce Plan to Legalise Cannabis in Next Term of Parliament

Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and drug law reform spokesperson, has today launched the Greens plan to legalise and regulate recreational cannabis in NSW. 

MEDIA RELEASE

Pill Testing Urgently Needed after Tragic Death at Music Festival: Greens

Following the tragic news of the death of a man from a drug overdose at Sydney’s Transmission Festival this weekend, Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and drug law reform and harm reduction spokesperson is calling on the Government to urgently implement all recommendations of the Coronial Inquest into the six deaths...


CAMPAIGNS