Centennial Coal plans to reopen the Angus Place Colliery, that has been mothballed since 2015. In August 2021 Centennial submitted a Scoping Report to the Planning Department for its Angus Place West proposal. The company plans to extract up to 8.5 millions tonnes of coal at a rate of up to 2 million tonnes a year. The proposal covers 1,000 hectares and would mine under the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area.
On July 11th, 2022 Centennial Coal submitted a referral 2022/09270 under the Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act claiming that Long Swamp, and swamps on Kangaroo and Lambs Creeks are not "matters of national environmental significance". If the regulators agree, this would mean that mining impacting these swamps would not be controlled under Federal Environmental law, the EPBC Act.
These three swamps, however, have been mapped as nationally endangered Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone. You can download this data for Newnes and use "Google Earth" to locate the three swamps. The mapping research was undertaken as part of an enforceable undertaking paid by Centennial Coal. Further information on the enforceable undertaking and the terms of the THPSS Research Program.
Lithgow Environment Group has prepared a detailed submission on the proposed coal mining demonstrating far more nationally significant heritage values would be impacted than Centennial Coal has claimed.
Wilderness Australia's submission details of Centennial Coal's the environmental track record at the Angus Place mine, while the submission by Nature Conservation Council of NSW is laser focused on what Centennial's EIS must cover.
