To make the final determination on the $1.7 billion mine, Baird must wade through the myths and emotion on both sides to ascertain whether this mammoth mine will disrupt the fragile aquifer ecosystem that lies beneath the Liverpool Plains and gives it life.
And the myths are many.
The suggestion that Shenhua is mining a ridge โhigh up in the hillsโ โ as has been ยญespoused by Prime Minister Tony Abbott โ is one such myth. The high point of the โridgeโ that Shenhua wants to mine is merely 40 metres higher than flood plain. And itโs hardly a ridge, more a peninsula that sticks its neck out onto the floodplain.
And once that 40 metres is put on a slow boat to Shanghai, they are still going to go down a further 260 metres.
The suggestion that Shenhuaโs territory is all ridge country and no black soil is also a myth.
It is only officially ยญdeclared ridge country because disgraced former planning minister Chris Hartcher changed the definition of flood plain so Shenhua could include some of the black soil in its mine site (albeit for the purpose of using those propertiesโ water licences).
Over Andrew Pursehouseโs back fence, across a little river, black soil stares back at you. Some 1000 acres (404.6ha) of it โ rich, vibrant and as moist as a slushy. And now owned by Shenhua after it signed a cheque for $6 million.
And then there is the real issue: the water.
It is what Mike Baird is hanging his hat on.
At the NSW Farmersโ ยญannual conference earlier this week, the Premier reiterated the belief of experts who claim the mineโs impact on the aquifers under the Liverpool Plains would be negligible.
Negligible was perhaps a poor choice of words for the Premier to use.
Unquantifiable, maybe. Unknown, more precise.
Because the reality is the ยญIndependent Expert Scientific Committee determined in its final report on Shenhua Watermark that damaging the life-giving water ecosystem was an โunassessed riskโ; given the connectivity between coal seams and the sporadic underground aquifers remains somewhat of a mystery.
This vast water source โ a mass of water-bearing gravel that lies in various depths under the plains, from 20m in depth to around 70m, and stops just 900m short of Shenhuaโs eastern pit โ is fragile, ebbing and flowing, up and down with the gentle shifts of the flood plain above.
Itโs about to be hit with the shockwaves of five explosions a day. For 30 years.
Sitting across the plains up on the mountain range is Whitehavenโs Werris Creek coal mine. It was given the go-ahead to dig two-and-a-half million tonnes of coal out of the ground under strict conditions because of the aquifers that lie 400m away.
Last week, one of those ยญaquifers was pierced, an ecosystem was altered forever, and a handful of neighbouring farmers lost their water source to irrigate their crops, ensuring the value of their property risks being halved.
It was akin to pulling the plug out on the bath water. Gone. Forever.
The scientific reports said it would never happen.
Hardly negligible.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/premier-and-the-china-syndrome/story-fni0cwl5-12274446...
It's not worth the risk. Not for Australian interests and probably not even for the Chinese Government-owned mine. Fiona Simpson, President of the NSW Farmer's Association made the point that the coal they're mining for is not even high-grade coal and that the company would get a much better ROI if they used the land for agricultural purposes.
