The Metropolitan Colliery is a coal mine located near Helensburgh, New South Wales owned by Peabody Energy.
[5] In 2020, over 10,000 people signed a petition calling on the mining to stop, as a result of concerns about water quality and subsidence damage.
Metropolitan’s longwall mines have already caused serious damage to the Woronora Dam catchment area – WaterNSW’s submission to the Independent Report into Mining in the Catchment notes the detrimental impact Metropolitan’s longwall mines 23-27 have had on the Eastern Tributary of the Waratah Rivulet, with ‘Unexpectedly high levels of surface cracking (along the creek and at pool / rockbars) and consequent drying of a large proportion of pools.’ (p.B4) Two swamps that filter and clean our water have also shown signs of drying out – with groundwater levels ‘not having recovered many years after completion of mining.’ (p.B5) Further damage has occurred at the main part of the Rivulet, with riverbeds seriously fractured and pools completely drained.
WaterNSW note mining in this area has resulted in ‘environmental consequences [that] have caused (or are likely to cause) breaches in conditions in the relevant development consents, including performance criteria to protect watercourses and Sydney’s drinking water catchment’; and, there are ‘numerous deficiencies in the manner that analysis and modelling is currently being used to support mining applications.’ (p. 1, p. 7) The area around Woronora catchment is a ‘Special Area’ – so protected that people are not even allowed to walk in there – fines for doing so can be up to $44,000.
The undersigned petitioners therefore ask the Legislative Assembly to stop further threats to our water supply and rescind the development consents that permit mining in this area.