THE battle lines were defined long before the conflicting interests took centre stage at yesterday’s Planning Assessment Commission in Lithgow — swamps and water salinity were to be the issues.
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It was a take-no-prisoners encounter with the prize the future of Springvale Colliery and more than 300 livelihoods.
Opponents of the Springvale extension showed their hand on Tuesday with a media statement co-signed by environmentalists and academics.
And while the personal qualifications may have differed it was a common agenda — to destroy or seriously curtail the future of Springvale.
The common thread of their concern was the swamps in the Newnes Plateau and the threat of salinity in the headwaters of Sydney’s water catchment.
And when the hearing got under way at the Workmens Club they stuck to the script.
A procession of speakers representing environmental lobbyists — mostly from outside the Lithgow district — gave a repetitive recital of the threat to the swamps and water quality in the Coxs River.
Much of the illustrations were of a technical nature that no doubt meant little to most of the big crowd but were, in any event, intended to convince the PAC commissioners.
But even more passionate were the speakers supporting Springvale who spoke of dire consequences for families and the district community should Springvale exhaust its existing leases later this year.
With the Millennium Room at the Workmens Club packed to absolute capacity and the obvious potential for disturbance the PAC chairman Brian Gilligan requested courtesy for all speakers.
He pointed out that the occasion was not a rally or even a public meeting.
He said it was the only opportunity for pre-registered parties to put their submissions to the inquiry relating to the Springvale extension.
Subsequently the only interjections at least during the morning session were from audience members, no doubt pro Springvale, reminding environmental speakers that their allocated time was up.
This prompted a response from the chairman that he would call time when required.
At one stage he told the Colong Foundation’s Jeff Angel to ‘get on with it’ after he attempted to respond to an interjector.
In one change to the advertised order of business the commission relaxed a prior ruling that video recording would not be allowed but continued the ban on audio recording of proceedings.
This came after a comment from the audience that ‘someone is filming’.
The chairman ruled the TV cameraman could continue filming but could not record what was being spoken.
Mr Gilligan said that the commission is due to report to the Minister by the end of June.