Whitehaven Coal documents showing environmental breaches raise concerns

Documents Whitehaven Coal fought to keep secret reveal a litany of environmental licence breaches at its north-western NSW mines over the past six years.

The breaches relate to a range of problems, from contaminating nearby streams to air pollution at Whitehaven Coal’s four mines.

The company has already been fined for the most serious breaches.

Whitehaven Coal opposed access to the documents — known as annual returns — which are reports to NSW authorities that detail breaches or “non-compliance with [environmental] licence”.

Green group Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) sought access to the documents through the Government Information (Public Access) Act, a freedom-of-information-type request.

“I was gobsmacked at just how difficult it was to access these reports,” EJA’s James Whelan said.

“All we wanted were the pollution reports that company lodges with the [Environmental Protection Authority] each year … these are things that should be in the public realm.

“The fact is it took us nine months of persistence — appeals and counter appeals — as Whitehaven stymied us at every turn.”

The breaches were for a range of failures relating to dust and noise levels and polluting waterways…

Source: Whitehaven Coal documents showing environmental breaches raise concerns – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)