The huge mining hole
Story in Germany's DIE ZEIT, 5 January 2012
Story in Germany's DIE ZEIT, 5 January 2012
There is a growing public opposition against coal mining and coal-seam gas mining in Australia. Farmers and city-dwellers, Greens and Conservatives alike line up to rally against a mining boom that has become a huge land grab in the eyes of many. Mining companies are aggressively advancing into fertile farming areas, and the effects on underground aquifers are often not yet fully understood.
I drove out to the Hunter Valley to meet Ian Moore, a cattle farmer who sees his livelihood destroyed by the coal industry. He fears that his groundwater sources could be depleted if coal company Nucoal was to get the go-ahead with a long-wall mining project underneath his property. But with less than 5 per cent of his eyesight remaining, Ian has nowhere else to go to make a living...
Disappointed with the laws in most parts of Australia which say that coal and gas mining companies are to be granted access to prospective land, more and more farmers are deciding to simply "Lock the Gate".
I drove out to the Hunter Valley to meet Ian Moore, a cattle farmer who sees his livelihood destroyed by the coal industry. He fears that his groundwater sources could be depleted if coal company Nucoal was to get the go-ahead with a long-wall mining project underneath his property. But with less than 5 per cent of his eyesight remaining, Ian has nowhere else to go to make a living...
Disappointed with the laws in most parts of Australia which say that coal and gas mining companies are to be granted access to prospective land, more and more farmers are deciding to simply "Lock the Gate".
Blind cattle farmer Ian Moore on his property near Jerry's Plains in the Hunter Valley.
Coal mining in the Hunter Valley near Singleton.
Protest rally against coal-seam gas in Sydney's CBD on 16 October 2011.
