KEPCO Bylong Australia’s plans to rehabilitate impacted areas of its Bylong Coal Project have been revealed in the project’s Environment Impact Statement (EIS) – placed on public exhibition by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment today.
KEPCO said the EIS comprehensively addresses social, environmental and economic aspects of the proposed project following four years of exploration, environmental monitoring and technical studies.
“KEPCO is confident the EIS demonstrates the project meets the expectations of the community and regulator obligations by ensuring the ongoing amenity of the Bylong Valley whilst unlocking the economic benefits it can bring,” KEPCO Australia chief operating officer Bill Vatovec said.
“The project has been carefully designed to avoid impacts on the most productive alluvial lands in the Valley, with less than two percent of the Valley floor to be disturbed by open cut mining and considered installation of surface infrastructure.
“The short-term nature of open cut mining means there will be minimal loss of agricultural production and KEPCO is committed to returning areas within the project disturbance footprint to agricultural land use as soon as possible following rehabilitation.
“A unique feature of the project is there will be no final void.
“The natural topography of the site screens views towards the open cut mining areas and surface infrastructure from the popular tourist drive along the Bylong Valley Way ensuring the existing amenity of the Bylong village will not be significantly impacted by the project.”
If approved the project will require up to 800 people during construction and up to 470 people during operations and “contribute to strong economic growth in the Mid-Western Region over the next 25 years,” Mr Vatovec said.
The public exhibition period is expected to run from September 23 to November 6, 2015.
Members of the public, regulators and other interested stakeholders are invited to view and make a submission on the EIS which KEPCO will examine and provide feedback on after the public exhibition period.
The EIS can be viewed online on the NSW Department of Planning and Environment’s website, at the Project’s site office in Bylong or at Mid-Western Regional Council’s offices in Mudgee, Gulgong, Rylstone and Kandos Library.
Source: Elle Watson, Mudgee Guardian, 30 September 2015
