THREAD - #coal Mining under the #Woronora catchment by US Mining company. Backed by Speakman and Gladys and @Matt_KeanMP for the #NSWgov
@simonahac

Joining the dots... so much for the independence of the experts who gave the green light for the mining at Woronora to continue... The approval of the new longwalls under the Woronora Reservoir was signed off by Mike Young from Department of Planning and

was accompanied by a letter from two independent experts, Emeritus Professor Jim Galvin and Professor Neil MacIntyre.

In the letter, they cite data to support the go-ahead of the mine, provided by the "Woronora Reservoir Impact Strategy Panel" who also submitted a Stage 2 Report separately to the NSW Government. This document was therefore key in the Government’s decision-making processes.

The problem is that it was commissioned by Peabody, the proponent of the project...
seems these "planners" have not only compromised the government-appointed body, the Independent Expert Panel for Mining in the Catchment (IEPMC), to assess mining impacts,

but they have also re-invented the meaning of the word "independent" to include advice from those seeking favour.
One of the members of Peabody's "Woronora Reservoir Impact Strategy Panel", Professor Bruce Hebblewhite, became a member of the Government’s IEPMC only shortly after

he finalised Peabody's first Woronora Reservoir Impact Strategy Panel report. He later resigned from the IEPMC in 2018, but is cited heavily in the final IEPMC report regardless. Galvin, the Chair of the IEPMC, has a longstanding professional relationship with Hebblewhite.

Since 2013, MacIntyre has received at least eight grants from the mining industry, including from Santos and Adani.

SO - how INDEPENDENT and "independent" panels????

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