Our community, which is overwhelmingly opposed to the Wallarah 2 project, has until September 7 to convince Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg to reject the coal mine.
I urge everyone to make the most of this time and write to him, demanding he stop the mine.
I would also encourage everyone to write to Premier Gladys Berejiklian to let her know where we stand. She seems to have conveniently forgotten or overlooked the promises made by former Premier Barry O’Farrell when he said there would be no mine, “no ifs, no buts”.
I have been opposed to this mine since it was first proposed; not because I oppose coalmining, but because this proposal would risk our water supply.
I wrote to Minister Frydenberg last September, and I called on him in Parliament in February to take a stand; to protect our drinking water.
I called on him to choose science over politics and to choose Central Coast people over foreign mining interests.
It beggars belief that this mine has been recommended for approval by the NSW Planning Assessment Commission.
The Central Coast community is against it.
The Central Coast Council is against it.
The state Labor Opposition is against it.
Even the State Liberal government was against it.
What has changed?
Experts warned that this mine threatens the long-term water supply of the Central Coast and I am not convinced that conditions put in place can protect our water.
Water is precious. We all know that.
We remember, only a decade ago, the severe water restrictions imposed when our dam levels plummeted to 13 per cent.
Millions have been spent to secure our supply in the Mangrove to Mardi pipeline, and we will not see that jeopardised.
Jobs have been used as a justification for this mine, and yes we need jobs.
But they must be real jobs that stack up economically and environmentally.
I am concerned this proposal overstates the employment prospects.
Coalmining is an industry in transition, and we need to be upfront and honest about that. We would be doing a disservice to workers in this industry if we were anything less.
This mine was captured by the “water trigger” enshrined in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act by Labor, to protect communities from this very threat. That means the Federal Environment Minister has the call.
Let’s make sure he hears our call.
This "Dobell Matters" column ran in the Rural Grapevine and the Village Grapevine in April 2018