While two protesters from the Leard Forest Alliance chained themselves to mining equipment at Whitehaven’s Maules Creek mine site on Monday, it was a more subdued atmosphere outside the site’s perimeter.
Two Maules Creek farmers, who gathered at the entrance to the site with several other Leard Forest Alliance members who had travelled to the area, spoke about their fears for their small community where generations of their families have called home.
Roselyn Druce, a third generation Maules Creek farmer, told The Courier that while some protesters have travelled to the area and broken the law, others are simply engaged in a peaceful protest to voice concerns about the new mine and the potential affect on their livelihood.
“It’s only a peaceful protest, I know up there [where protesters had chained themselves] is different, but there is no reason to shut this, we’re not criminals,” she said, after police blocked a section of public road leading to the site for several hours on Monday afternoon.
She said Maules Creek locals had concerns about breathing in coal dust, the potential for noise from coal blasts, the way in which some Gomeroi people had been treated and the affect the mining will have on water levels.
As The Courier reported on Tuesday, some Gomeroi people say they have been denied access to sites they say are culturally signficant, in order to retrieve artefacts.
Ms Druce believes once the mine begins operation, locals will endure a range of problems.
“The noise from the blasts will be horrendous,” she said.
Rick Laird, a fourth generation Maules Creek farmer, was also outside the entrance to the Whitehaven site on Monday and shared Roselyn’s concerns.
“There are health issues because of dust,” Mr Laird said.
“In winter, there’s a 70 per cent inversion layer in the air, air travels within 100 feet from the ground with the prevailing wind direction from the mine.
“The health impacts are real, but the government doesn’t want to do these health studies.”
He believes if there is too much coal dust then it could reach unnacceptable levels for the local school to operate.
“The school could have to close, my great grandfather went to that school,” he said.
The farmers are also concerned about water levels dropping as a result of the mining.
“The Namoi Water Study says there will be a five to seven metre drawdown of water in the Maules Creek Valley, it depressurises the aquifer,” Mr Laird said. “Our major concern is the water bores will go down.”
While some Maules Creek residents have sold their properties in anticipation of the new mine starting, Mr Laird and Ms Druce say these residents were only relatively new to the area, and most would prefer to stay.
“The people who have sold out are all of the new families, most have been there five to 30 years, not the long term families of Maules Creek, they don’t care about Maules Creek, they’re quite happy to move somewhere else,” Mr Laird said.