While farmers are receiving billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded largesse after a concerted sympathy campaign, the poor townies have had to soldier on without any government help.

 

On top of this, coal mining companies such as New Hope Coal are donating thousands of dollars to drought relief charities.      

 

Regional townsfolk should call on communities in Lithgow, Mudgee and Singleton to see how coal mining money is keeping the local economy afloat.

 

Maybe it should be government policy to encourage coal mines to be strategically approved near most rural centres to ensure their economic good health instead of paying out billions of dollars in handouts each time a drought comes around.    

 

Two NSW regional towns come to mind when thinking about mine protests - Gloucester and Berrima.

 

These two towns are undoubtedly pretty but their inhabitants will be so much poorer if local farmers who have joined up with environmentalists stop coal mining projects from being developed.

 

A packed Land and Environment Court hearing at Gloucester recently heard vociferous opposition from a motley crew of farmers, teachers and tradespeople against the Rocky Hill project, which is being proposed by Gloucester Resources.

 

The company is challenging the development application refusal by the Department of Planning and Environment's independent Planning Assessment Commission late last year.

 

Over in the Southern Highlands, the Hume underground coal project is facing a similar barrage of hostility and indifference despite the benefits and employment it will provide for local apprentices and tradespeople in the towns of Berrima, Moss Vale, and Bowral.

 

Work Hume Coal has done over the past 12 months further reinforces the low risk and low impact design of its proposed underground coal mine, according to its project director Greig Duncan.

 

The company has lodged its response to submissions report with the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment, the next step in NSW planning process for State Significant Developments.

 

"The document was a culmination of supplementary modelling and reports, which addressed the matters raised by the community, regulators and government agencies during the exhibition of the Environmental Impact Statement," Duncan said.

 

The mine is planned to produce metallurgical coal with a secondary thermal coal product.

 

About 50 million tonnes of run-of-mine coal will be extracted from the Wongawilli Seam, resulting in about 39Mt of saleable coal over a 23-year project life.

 

If townspeople in the area had long-term vision they could see this could underwrite business for more than 20 years - regardless of the prevailing weather conditions. 

 

Hogsback reckons coal makes better economic sense for many regional towns than marginal farming activity.