Windsor is calling on the mining industry and the Australian government to fund an independent water study in the region.
Speaking at this year’s Gunnedah Basin Coal conference, the New England MP called on industry to co-fund an independent study into aquifer networks, under the Liverpool plains.
The request comes after Windsor lobbied the federal government’s Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee to investigate groundwater and mining issues.
The government has hesitated on funding the study.
“To refuse an independent study of the potential impacts of longwall coal mining, not only in highly productive food producing areas but in areas underpinned by interconnected groundwater systems that we have no knowledge of, is hypocritical,” Windsor said.
Windsor said he had asked the mining industry to assist with funding for the independent study which would make the proposition more attractive for the government.
The farmers and Windsor say the widespread effects of mining on water reserves in the region have not been properly assessed.
This week around 200 anti-coal farmers voiced their concerns over mining in the region and the potential damage to underground water reservoirs by protesting at the beginning of the conference.
Caroona Coal Action Group spokesman Tim Duddy told International Longwall News earlier this week that there was no interconnectivity study between aquifers.
“Our issue with the Gunnedah Coal Basin is that they are planning huge development without the studies of the underground aquifer structure being completed as the state government are issuing more exploration licences,” Duddy said.
“So nobody knows how far it reaches, so to consider going in there blind, which is what the state government is doing, is just outrageous.”
Diversified miner BHP Billiton recently said it would not go ahead with a longwall mine in the Liverpool plains due to agricultural concerns.
The Gunnedah Basin conference continues today with speakers from coal companies, infrastructure providers and water companies.
The Gunnedah Basin is an emerging coal region located in northern New South Wales.
