Media Release: 9^th January, 2006

Newcastle Earthquake was caused by coal mining

National Geographic reported on Monday that the Newcastle earthquake was caused by coal mining, and that the human and economic cost of the quake, and the 150 tonnes of water that was removed for each tonne of coal produced under Newcastle, far outweighs the value of the coal extracted.

National Geographic’s Richard Lovett reports that Dr. Christian D. Klose of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York presented his findings at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in California last month. (see http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070103-mine-quake.html)

The Hunter Community Environment Centre says that in the light of these findings, a cumulative impact assessment of the coal industry in the Hunter is urgently needed. “The hidden and cumulative costs of coal mining are slowly being exposed, we’re calling on the NSW Government to initiate a cumulative impact statement to investigate the Hunter coal export industry,” said HCEC spokesperson, Paul Winn.

“For 200 years, the Government and the coal industry have been exploiting Newcastle and the Hunter for their own benefit. This exploitation has come at a huge cost, and the community is still paying,” said Mr. Winn.

“Dr. Klose’s findings demand attention, especially given his hypothesis that Carbon Capture and Storage, the pie-in-the-sky technology being touted as the answer to climate change by the coal industry, might also create unexpected seismic activity.”

“NSW and the Hunter Valley can no longer afford not to closely examine the long-term impact the export coal industry is having on our region: We know it’s seriously depleting our flora and fauna, we know it’s damaging our river, we know it’s causing health problems, and driving climate change, and now, it seems it may be responsible in the future for further seismic instability.”