We have "experts "with a string of letters after their name assuring us that this Shenhua coal project on the Liverpool Plains is perfectly safe and there is no danger that it will disrupt the aquifers that make this land amongst the most productive in agricultural Australia.
Angry farmers who oppose this new mine now have their argument backed by what is happening nearby and are entitled to use the " Told you so ! " example to force a new evaluation of the risk. The timing is perfect because while the $ 1.7 billion Shenhua has approval, not a single sod has been turned to bring it into reality.
All eyes are now turned on Whitehaven Coal's Werris Creek mine situated above the Liverpool Plains. The difference is that this is a productive coal mine and when the open cut operation gouged out below the hundred metre mark - a strange thing started to happen.
Water began to flood into the pit - and adjacent farmers found that their bores - which had been a reliable source of irrigation water for years - suddenly had depleted flow - or went entirely dry !
It does not take a mathematical mind like Stephen Hawking's to join the dots together. The blasting and digging have changed the course of the aquifer water flow - which the experts said would not happen - and now irreparable damage has been done - to both the mine and the farms.
Of course the experts are yet to be convinced that this is so, and are desperately seeking some other reason. The mine is making plans to pump this unwanted water out of it's pits and is looking to dispose of it by making it available for Pivot irrigation on two adjacent farms it owns - and which it bought from former politician Tony Windsor. These are now leased back to him at peppercorn rents.
This will change the entire financial structure of the area. Those irrigated farms will sharply increase in value as their productivity surges and there will be a consequent decrease in value of surrounding land that is deprived of it's former source of water.
The farmers - who are the very people who know their land and the cycles that apply to agriculture - have warned that open pit mining and farming are a bad mix, and in particular - the aquifers that make the difference between good and indifferent farm country are easily disrupted - and like Humpty Dumpty, the egg that fell off a wall - once broken can not be put together again !
The message is resonating - load and clear - for all to see. If Shenhua goes ahead it puts the irrigation of the vast Liverpool Plains at risk and we now have a practical example of just what can happen in the labyrinth of waterways deep underground - that we don't fully understand.
There is also a further worry. We have no idea how far the Werris Creek disruption may spread and over what period of time. We know that there is a vast interconnectivity with aquifers and in many cases their reservoirs have built up over centuries. Once there is even a small change in the rate and direction of the flow, the long term results are then unknown.
There is another inescapable reality that needs to be taken into account. The population of planet Earth has ticked over past seven billion and ten billion will be reached before mid-century. That is a lot of extra mouths to feed and the agricultural land to provide that food is finite.
Whenever it comes down to a decision whether it is better to mine coal or use the land to grow food there is simply no contest involved.
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