A Dirty Business - Coal Mining in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales

There was a fascinating but frightening report on Four Corners (12 April 2010) about the health concerns held by residents who live near vast coal mining operations in the Upper Hunter Valley.

With about 34 coal mines operating in the region, it would be pretty difficult not to live near one and these mines (some near small towns) are putting ever-increasing quantities of ultra-fine dust particles into the air. The problem stems from the fact that most of the black coal mines in the Hunter Valley are open cut operations where it's pretty much impossible to control the dust even though they spray a bit of water around. In the report, you could see the enormous extent of these mines and all the dust rising into the air.

For viewers in Australia, the Four Corners report is available online (probably for a limited time) on ABC iView.

This has been followed by a report today in the SMH about the Department of Lands resuming Camberwell Common for coal mining, right next to the town.

As one recently published academic study from the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Newcastle notes, 'since 2003, community groups, Greens Party parliamentarians, health professionals and local government councillors have called for a study to investigate the cumulative health impacts of air pollution in this area. To date no such study has been planned.'

The University of Newcastle study calls the situation an 'environmental injustice', which it defines as '...the disproportionate exposure of socially vulnerable groups (e.g., the poor, racial minorities) to pollution and its associated effects on health and the environment, as well as the unequal environmental protection provided through laws, regulations and enforcement...' Some pretty worrying data from the study includes the following:

The Four Corners report reveals that one GP is trying to carry out the study that the State Government has so far refused to fund himself:

Faced with a State Government that refuses to fund an independent study looking at the impact of coal mining and power station emissions on health, one local GP has decided he will do the work the Government won't fund. He's paying for the work himself. Nearly nine hundred school students are already part of his study. His reasons for doing it are simple:

"I think it's like with a general practice in the community. Here I'm more thinking about prevention because nowadays we just concentrate on treating disease but we're not really treating the cause of the problem, if we try to prevent the disease happening in the first place, it is money well spent."

This story has been around for a while. It gets picked up from time to time by the ABC and other media outlets. The Sydney Morning Herald has published a good few editorials and it goes back to on the backburner for a while.

It now looks like there will be one specific study [theherald.com.au] to investigate a 'cancer cluster'. However, this is far from the extensive study into health effects and air monitoring that residents have been calling for.

At the root of it all is money. There's the big bucks in the Australian coal mining industry. According to an industry source, $24 billion dollars of black coal was exported from Australia in 2007-08. The same source asserts that a study shows people in the region feel that the benefits of coal outweigh the negative impacts. But it's not clear that the potential health impacts are fully understood.

Other figures about Australia's energy reserves, including its coal resources, are mind-boggling:

Australia has 5% of global reserves of black coal (~ 40 Gigatons, Gt) and 24% of global reserves of brown coal (~37.5 Gt). With a total annual production of about 390 Mt, Australia is the world’s largest exporter with about 30% of world total coal export trade (250Mt) and nearly 5% of world consumption.

Coal also comprises Australia’s largest single export (~ $A23 billion), an industry with up to 150,000 employees, and is used to generate about 85% of Australia’s electricity.

With a population of about 21.5 million (0.3% of world population, ranking 51st globally), Australia accounts for 2.5% of the world’s energy production (world’s eighth largest producer), with coal being its main source of energy production (Coal 54%, Uranium 28%, Natural gas 10%, Oil 6% and Renewables less than 2%). [Source]

With more coal mines opening in the region, it doesn't look like this issue will go away. Media reports in 2009 were already talking about future class actions [theherald.com.au] against the State Government:

If it was proved in years to come the Government failed in its duty of care, it could potentially face a class action from those who had contracted air pollution-related illnesses while living and working in the Upper Hunter.

We can only hope that a wide-ranging health study is carried out soon and that the economic boon and employment provided by the mining doesn't leave another terrible industrial legacy along the lines of James Hardie.