The New Acland Coal Mine. Photos supplied.
It is not necessarily good news when the mining
company comes to town, says Queensland cattle farmer Sid Plant.
He tells Mark Price of his experience living next door and why
Mataura should leave its coal in the hole.
Clouds of dust and diesel fumes, all-day noise, ruined
farmland, skyrocketing house prices and rents, crumbling
communities.
These are the cards some rural Australians are being dealt as
"open-cut" mines spread across the land in pursuit of energy
and mineral treasures.
But, could it happen in Eastern Southland?
Solid Energy, the state-owned enterprise developing the
region's lignite fields, says "no".
An impression of what the Mataura briquette plant will look
like.
But, in Mataura tomorrow, Queensland farmer Sid Plant
will describe to whoever is interested the impact "open-cut"
coal-mining has had on his part of the Darling Downs, near
Toowoomba, over the past 15 years.
The Otago Daily Times caught up with Mr Plant before
he left home for his speaking engagement.
"Different people have said to me New Zealand needs the
money.
"Personally, if I owned the whole of New Zealand I'd be
trying to manage without it [the lignite].
"If it has to be mined, it will be a pity."
Mr Plant's Queensland cattle and cropping farm borders the
New Hope Corporation's New Acland Coal Mine.
Sid Plant on his Darling Downs farm.
His house is about 5km from where most of the mine
machinery operates at the moment.
He is not directly "downwind" but he still has problems.
"When it started, it kept us awake for two years.
"It still wakes us but because of where they have moved to,
and the mountains of bloody stuff they've dumped between us
and the pits, it's not quite as painful as it was for us."
His daughter and grandchildren live on the same farm but much
closer to the active part of the mine.
"The noise still wakes the kids periodically."
The mine operates "24-7" with Christmas Day and "the odd day
here and there" being the only exceptions.
But worse than the noise, is the dust.
"It's a bloody menace.
"The dust is always a menace for anybody that's downwind.
"The people who were nearest to it and downwind ...most of
them are sick or have moved.
"Needless to say once the mine started, land values dropped
by a half or a third."
He describes the dust reaching his farm as "dirt dust" but
other places, where the coal is trucked to a rail link, have
problems with coal dust.
"Some people can't cope with the dust.
"They do everything they can, but it just chokes them up.
"It's all over everything.
"It destroys their cars."
The New Acland mine produces nine million tonnes of
high-grade coal per year - some exported and some used to
fire an electricity power station.
The mine employs 360 people and claims to support another 400
"flow-on" jobs in Queensland.
It contributes "significantly" to the Queensland economy.
Solid Energy describes its plans to develop the Eastern
Southland lignite fields as possibly being "New Zealand's
insurance policy" while alternatives to fossil fuels are
found.
And, it says, the development will help New Zealand maintain
a high standard of living.
Mr Plant says coal-mining damaged the standard of living of
his community.
And while he considered it "a bit impertinent" to tell
Eastern Southland people what they should do, based on his
experience he predicted what might be ahead for them.
"There will be people who will be in the footprint of it [the
mine] and they are more than likely going to be bought out,
whether they like it or not.
"And, you know, massive family stress comes out of that.
"There's community stress too as the community breaks down.
"I want to try and give them a feel for what that was like
for us."
He is concerned for those who will be neighbours of the mine
and he will encourage people to become familiar with New
Zealand's mining legislation to "try and protect themselves".
"They are going to get a decline in lifestyle and they are
going to find it's going to be impossible to get staff, if
they have staff, if they are a small business.
"Everybody goes to the mine, if they can."
In New Acland's case, he said, most workers initially came
from other mines because locals did not have the skills.
But, now there was a percentage of locals who worked there.
"I have no argument with anybody who works on the site.
"My argument is with the [New Hope] board and with our
government because for at least 50 years our government has
been so married to the royalties that everything has been
done to enable it.
"While they have things like environmental protection
agencies and departments of resource management, their whole
goal really has been to make it happen.
"So there's been a continuous erosion of freehold title
rights and the companies are accustomed to just rolling over
the top of anybody who gets in their way."
Tegan Plant - a distant relative of Mr Plant - is a newspaper
reporter an hour or so from the mine, in a town called
Chincilla [pop. 3681].
It is the melon capital of Australia.
She says the establishment of new mines led to conflict with
farmers but there were other concerns for the small towns in
the region.
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.