Mudgee District Environment Group (MDEG) is holding a public meeting to discuss the proposed Cobbora coal mine next Thursday.
Key areas of concern include the volume of water the mine needs to use from the Cudgegong River, increasing coal train movements in the region and the cost of the mine to NSW taxpayers.
MDEG chairperson, Bev Smiles, said the recent NSW government budget allocated a further $94 million to developing the Cobbora mine.
“At the same time, the promised “Royalties to Regions” has only delivered $9.9m with the bulk of that money going to Muswellbrook and Singleton Shires,” she said.
“Mudgee is getting more mines, more impacts and more long term problems while the NSW government is spending tax payers’ money on the next big project in the region.”
Cudgegong Valley Water Users Group has concerns about the NSW government buying high security water licenses from below Burrendong Dam and transferring them into the Cudgegong River system.
Cudgegong Valley Water chair, Trevor Crosby, said Windamere Dam was a poor performer as a large water storage.
“With all the rain we’ve had over the past two seasons the dam is only just above 50 per cent capacity,” he said.
“The townships of Mudgee and Gulgong and the wine and tourism industry in the region are dependent on this water supply. NSW Office of Water has not provided the information we’ve requested about the impact on other users of 3.3 billion litres a year allocated to Cobbora Mine.”
Other speakers at the public meeting include Dr John Kaye, Greens MLC spokesperson on energy; Jeremy Buckingham, Greens MLC spokesperson on mining and Mid-Western Regional councilor Russell Holden.
The meeting will be held on Thursday, July 5, at 7pm at Club Mudgee