On September 26, 2011, Waratah Coal finally released the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for its ‘China First’ mine (otherwise known as the ‘Galilee Coal Project’). The EIS details a plan of destruction that would see an open-cut mine destroy more than half of Bimblebox Nature Refuge, and long-wall mining under the other half, resulting in subsidence and major interference with hydrology.

After years of silence and uncertainty, Waratah Coal has finally made it clear its ‘China First’ mine would entirely destroy the ecological integrity of Bimblebox Nature Refuge. The EIS claims that the mine “will not be viable without coal reserves under the [Nature Refuge]” (Executive Summary, p20). That means that either the ‘China First’ mine goes ahead or Bimblebox remains intact.

This is a significant case because it will set a precedent for other nature refuges subject to mining. In their support for mining on nature refuges, the State Government is shamefully abandoning conservation covenants they signed with landowners designed to protect the conservation values on these properties ‘in perpetuity’.

We call on everyone who supports the preservation of nature (and especially this isolated patch of intact arid ecology in a vast area of cleared grazing land) to make a submission to the government commenting on Waratah Coal’s EIS. Submissions must be in by the 19th December 2011 (the original deadline of 7th November has been extended for 6 weeks due to Waratah Coal failing to provide a complete EIS on their website).

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