50 submissions needed to stop quarry

Read Time:6 Minute, 29 Second

Seventeen community environmental groups have co-signed an open letter to Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, to stop a proposal for a hard rock quarry at Stone Ridge, in the Wallaroo State Forest.

The groups are urging residents to make submissions before 1 August via the NSW Planning Portal to ensure the state significant development is considered by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) and subject to the highest available level of scrutiny.

Submission needs to be unique, but can be brief; just a few sentences or paragraphs about your concerns, in your own words.

In their letter to Minister Plibersek, the groups said the Stone Ridge quarry proposal presents “unacceptable impacts to biodiversity protected under the EPBC Act. Your own Department

(DCCEEW) has deemed Stone Ridge as ‘likely to lead to population decline’ for the Koala,” the open letter said.

“The proponent, Australian Resources Development Group (ARDG) is seeking your permission to directly clear just under 80 hectares of Koala habitat and adversely affect a Disturbance Area totalling 139 hectares of State Forest, comprising four Endangered Ecological Communities (EECs) all suitable for the Koala for an initial time-frame of three decades.

“Site surveys completed by consultants for ARDG identified:

Koalas (Vulnerable, EPBC Act; Endangered, NSW BC Act),
Squirrel Gliders (Vulnerable, NSW BC Act) and
Brush-tailed Phascogales (Vulnerable, NSW BC Act)

present within Disturbance area, and a total of 10 Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) are listed in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) by the DCCEEW, inclusive of listed Migratory species due to the project’s proximity to the Ramsar listed Hunter Estuary Wetlands.

In the EIS, the DCCEEW further note “likely significant impacts” to MNES including the:

Grey-headed flying-fox (Vulnerable EPBC Act and BC Act) and
Coastal Swamp Sclerophyll Forest of New South Wales and South East Queensland (Endangered Ecological Community, BC Act),
The Swift Parrot (Critically Endangered EPBC Act; Endangered BC Act),
Spotted-tail quoll (Endangered EPBC Act, Vulnerable BC Act),
Yellow-bellied glider (Vulnerable EPBC Act and BC Act),
New Holland Mouse (Vulnerable EPBC Act) and the
South-eastern Glossy Black Cockatoo (Vulnerable EPBC Act and BC Act)

“may be significantly impacted”.

“You will no doubt be aware that within NSW, 78 species are already extinct, over 1000 species are Threatened of which more than a hundred are Critically Endangered.

“Long-term range contractions have been recorded for 64% of all native mammals, and about 60% of all described terrestrial mammals, 35% of amphibians and 31% of all NSW birds are now listed as threatened.

“Due to the presence of an intact Regional Biodiversity Corridor as well as all three types of Climate Corridors mapped under the NSW Climate Change Adaptation Strategy the 139ha greenfield site ARDG has selected to clear presently and is predicted to provide refuge and safe-passage to a number of threatened species facing range contractions and displacement due to accelerating climate change impacts.

“In December 2022 the founding organisations of the Barrington to Hawkesbury Climate Corridors Alliance (B2H) called for an immediate moratorium on land clearing within 22 of these Climate Corridors to prevent the regional extinction of six fauna species between now and 2070, including the Red-legged Pademelon, Yellow-bellied Glider, Stephen’s Banded Snake, Wallum Sedge Frog, Giant Barred Frog, and the Red-crowned Toadlet.

“In May this year, a second report published by the alliance found a staggering 50% of all threatened plant species between Barrington Tops and the Hawkesbury River will be extinct in the region by 2070, due to the impacts of climate change without factoring in the direct loss of vegetation from land clearing, such as that being proposed by ARDG in the Wallaroo State Forest.

“Minister Plibersek, upon launching your Threatened Species Action Plan: Toward Zero Extinctions, last October, you stated: ‘Our current approach has not been working. If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll keep getting the same results. Australia is the mammal extinction capital of the world. The need for action has never been greater. I will not shy away from difficult problems or accept environmental decline and extinction as inevitable.’

“The undersigned contend that approval of the Stone Ridge quarry would be a clear example of ‘doing what we’ve been doing’and would represent to the Hunter and Port Stephens community, a decisive step towards maintaining our status as world class leaders in species extinction.

“Founding partner to the B2H alliance, the Hunter Community Environment Centre (HCEC), has called for NSW Government investment in the establishment of a circular economy to enable coal-ash waste material – the by-product of thermal coal power generation – to be reclaimed and recycled to manufacture aggregates of a superior quality to raw rock and gravel, avoiding habitat loss we cannot afford as well as multiplied adverse community impacts of inappropriate greenfield industrial developments like Stone Ridge.

“Research undertaken by the Hunter Community Environment Centre in 2019 estimates the Hunter region has approximately 160-200+ million tonnes of coal-ash waste at its disposal, presently contributing to ecosystem contamination in the beloved Lake Macquarie estuary.

“Investment to enable this material to be reclaimed to manufacture sustainable, high-performing aggregates would underpin far greater regional employment than the estimated 50 direct jobs associated with the proposed Stone Ridge quarry proposal, and see progress towards tangible decontamination outcomes which community members of Lake Macquarie, the Hunter and Central Coast have been publicly calling for since 2018.

“The undersigned are deeply troubled by the fact that Stone Ridge quarry would have the largest production rate and surface area of a cluster of newly proposed or expanding quarry projects in the NSW planning pipeline for the Port Stephens LGA, with four other quarries proposed and/or expanding in the Mid-Coast and Upper Hunter LGA’s.

“As well as further eroding climate and biodiversity corridors, the cumulative impacts facing the region’s drinking water catchment from expanding and proposed quarries situated above Grahamstown Dam has alarmed local residents and attracted the scrutiny of Hunter Water

and other local authorities.

“Minister Plibersek, today we ask you to consider that this area of Wallaroo State Forest comprising an ecologically precious network of corridors for Threatened and Endangered fauna species, facing the most tenuous prospects of survival, provides an essential resource as it stands. We ask you to use your powers as Commonwealth Minister to prevent the unacceptable loss of habitat associated with the Stone Ridge Quarry Project and eagerly await your response to our plea to help our region resolve our quarry quandary.

Sincerely on behalf of the undersigned, Ms. Johanna Lynch, Coordinator

Hunter Community Environment Centre

Barrington to Hawkesbury Climate Corridors Alliance:

Community Environment Network (CEN)

EcoNetwork Port Stephens (ENPS)

Hunter Bird Observers Club (HBOC)

Hunter Community Environment Centre (HCEC)

National Parks Association NSW – Hunter branch

Brandy Hill/Seaham Action Group (BHSAG)

Eagleton Quarry Action Group (ERAG)

Gloucester Environment Group (GEG)

Gloucester Knitting Nannas

Knitting Nannas Hunter Loop

Koala Koalition EcoNetwork Port Stephens (KKEPS)

MidCoast Knitting Nannas

Permaculture Hunter

Renew Hunter Region Branch

SaveBalickera Incorporated (SBI)

Voices of Wallalong and Woodville (VOWW)

What you can do

Find out how to make a submission and the points to make and get it done by 5pm on 1 August. Everything you need to know is here https://www.hcec.org.au/stone-ridge-quarry

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