At the end of 2015, 4nature took Centennial Coal as the owners of Springvale coal mine and the NSW government to court to stop them polluting Sydney’s drinking water.
After originally losing the case in the NSW Land and Environment Court, in August 2017 we won on appeal in the NSW Supreme Court.
Before the court determined final orders, the NSW Parliament passed special legislation overturning our win. This allowed Springvale mine to continue to operate and exempting all existing coal mines in Sydney’s drinking water catchments from the strict water quality rules that apply to all other developments.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian erroneously told the media that same week that her government, ‘will make sure that the [mine’s] water quality has to be at least as good as what was there before the mine’, while Labor’s opposition leader Luke Foley pledged during the parliamentary debate that the ‘next Labor government will amend the legislation to restore the proper protections’.
Despite the setback, the Springvale mine was still required to build a pipeline and reverse osmosis treatment plant to ensure mine water is clean of its pollutants rather than discharging them into the Coxs River, one of the main sources of Sydney’s drinking water. The treatment plant began operation in June 2019.
4nature and other environmental organisations continue to hold Centennial Coal and all other mines in the Lithgow area accountable for the damage and pollution they are causing and to re-instate the rules protecting Sydney’s drinking water.