Mining " Subsidence " !

There is an old saying that " your home is your castle ".   Unfortunately, that is far from true.   When you buy a home you get possession of a piece of land, but you have absolutely no control over what is happening deep in the earth below.    In Wollongong, that means you may be living above a coal mine.

Dendrobium mine needs to expand it's operations into new " Longwalls " and there is an application to license the extraction of forty-seven million tonnes of coal from ten new galleries by 2022.    The problem is that this form of mining leaves a vacant hole in the earth where the coal has been -  and over time the earth above " subsides " on the principle that weight and pressure return things to normal.

What must alarm all local home owners is the estimation by coal experts that this subsidence will range from  2 to 2.8 metres at each of these ten Longwall galleries.   The implications are horrifying !

The government has set in place a subsidence restoration board to compensate people for damage to their homes and councils enforce strict building regulations to ensure that homes built in subsidence areas are weight spread and designed for the task, but there is also the aspect of damage to dams, lakes and rivers - and the road and rail systems we rely on for commerce.

Planet Earth is under attack from the relentless drive to extract more and more minerals to support our export industries, and at the same time coal that is not being mined is subject to " fracking " to extract coal seam gas for our energy needs.   We are venturing into the unknown - and at best we are relying on the opinions of experts as to what the consequences may be.

There is alarm that both mining and fracking may damage the Illawarra water catchment area and already some creeks have shown signs of water loss.  In other places, swamps and still water have methane gas bubbling up from cracks in the sub-surface.    This is apparent where water is involved, but if it is also happening on land we face the prospect of a volatile gas adding to the fury when a bushfire erupts.

The prospect of land falling away to the height of a tall man is a consequence that must be addressed in considering this mine expansion approval.   Of course, money is at risk if that approval is not granted.   A lot of money has already been spent to develop Dundrobium and many jobs are at stake.  It would be a local disaster if the mine was forced to close, but it could be an even bigger disaster if subsidence ruined house owners and industry - and shattered this viable community.

The big question is whether we can take that risk, or if it would be better to mine the coal from dozens of new coal fields located in rural areas of this state.   Unfortunately, that involves the loss of land that is delivering valuable farm crops, and many new mines will be open cut operations, leaving the land sterile for farming when the coal is exhausted.

The impetus for decision making seems to be for short term gain.   The economy needs the tax money mining brings - and the community needs the job that mining provides.   Experts differ on the consequences, and both sides of the argument exploit that uncertainty to push their case.

Pity the people who have to deliver a verdict - one way or the other.  Damned if they do - and damned if they don't !     But the consequences of those decisions are something that our kids and grandkids will have to live with - further down the track !