A Liberal MP has lashed the NSW Government's recommendation that the Tahmoor coal mine should be allowed to expand and directly undermine 143 houses in Bargo.
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Member for Wollondilly Nathaniel Smith vowed to try and stop the expansion, criticising the timing of the recommendation, and the impact on homes.
"The 166-page report was dropped in the middle of the night just days before Christmas and without warning to me or my office," he said.
"The original DA gives clear insight into the intent of this project - to eventually mine directly under the entire township of Bargo."
The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) has referred the expansion bid to the Independent Planning Commission, which will hold a public hearing into the proposal in February.
DPIE recommended the expansion be approved, saying the removal of three longwall panels from the application would significantly reduce the extent and scale of subsidence impacts, and there were appropriate laws in place to manage subsidence impacts and compensation.
"The Department acknowledges that undermining houses is a critical issue that requires careful consideration, however notes that amendments to the mine plan have resulted in an 81 per cent reduction in the number of houses located directly above the proposed longwalls (reduced from 751 to 143 houses)."
Mr Smith said the impact was "unconscionable".
"Whether it is 751 or 143 homes affected, that is the lives of those families changed forever - numbers that are unconscionable," he said. "Even at conventional levels of subsidence, NSW Planning predicts that at least 22 homes will be affected to such a degree that offer of acquisition may need to be made."
The expansion bid seeks to extract up to 4 million tonnes of coal per year over 10 years, continuing the employment of what DPIE said were 400 people who worked at the mine, which is owned by British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance.
DPIE said it had required the shortening of one longwall and this "would result in substantial reductions in the likelihood of impact to a significant number of stream features (pools), Aboriginal heritage sites, and a cliff line".
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