Blue Mountains conservation groups are celebrating a decision by the Planning Assessment Commission to knock back an open-cut mine expansion in the Greater Blue Mountains area. The commission dismissed plans to expand the Coalpac Consolidation Project near the Gardens of Stone National Park, northwest of Lithgow.
The three commission members said the region's tourism industry could suffer and the "economic benefits of the proposed mine" must be weighed against ... the negative impact on the international reputation of NSW and Australia".
A NSW coal industry representative, Stephen Galilee, called the decision, coupled with the rejection of another open-cut mine expansion in the Hunter Valley, "a brutal double blow".
Mr Galilee, the NSW Minerals Council chief executive, said the Coalpac mine rejection would damage the Lithgow economy: "Coal has been mined in the region for well over a century."
The commission noted the two mines in the proposal - Invincible Colliery and Cullen Valley Mine - had been placed in care and maintenance since 2013, with coal reserves either exhausted or uneconomic.
The extra coal was to have supplied EnergyAustralia's Mount Piper Power Station or the largely mothballed Wallerawang plant nearby.
The three commissioners said the mines would have "intruded" on a region of pagoda rock structures with "high conservation value" as unique landforms but also as habitats for threatened species.
About 300 hectares of stone formations and forest were at risk.
"Mining in the vicinity of these landforms has been found to be unacceptable in the past and the commission has been unable to find any compelling new evidence to support a different outcome in this instance," the report said.
Environmental groups applauded the decisions and called on the Baird government to declare the Ben Bullen State Forest, site of the Coalpac mine, a conservation area.
Colong Foundation for Wilderness director Keith Muir called it "a victory for common sense, conservation and local communities who have fought these proposals every step of the way".
More than 800 public submissions opposing the mine were received during the consultation period. Community submissions raised concerns about health impacts from dust pollution, impacts on threatened species, and destruction of unique geological features.
"This is the final nail in the coffin for a project that should never have been on the table. The logical next step is for the area to be protected," said Blue Mountains Conservation Society vice-president Tara Cameron.
