DEBATE continued to rage on Sunday between protesters and the mining industry over a proposed fourth coal loader in Newcastle.
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An estimated 1500 people marched through Newcastle on Saturday to protest against the proposed terminal because of concerns about pollution, health, increased mining, climate change and impact on Kooragang Island.
Protesters cried ‘‘one, two three, four, no to T4’’ and carried a large ‘‘King Coal’’ puppet during the demonstration.
‘‘T4 comes with an unpaid health bill,’’ Associate Professor Nick Higginbotham, of the Coal Terminal Action Group Dust and Health Committee, told the rally.
Upper Hunter Valley community representative Bev Smiles told the audience that ‘‘we are in a war zone, we are fighting for our lives’’.
After the rally yesterday, the NSW Minerals Council launched its Land Use Facts information campaign.
Council chief executive Stephen Galilee said despite perceptions that mines were engulfing NSW, mining operations accounted for around 0.1per cent of the state’s land.
“That compares with 76per cent for agriculture, 7.6per cent for conservation and national parks and 1.8per cent for homes and urban development,’’ he said.
He said mining created one-quarter of NSW exports by value, about 85per cent of the state’s electricity and directly employed 80,000 people in NSW.
A Port Waratah Coal Services spokesman said the company was still working through the state and federal approval processes for T4 and was committed to meeting environmental requirements.
He responded to claims T4 would lead to 14 new mines in the Hunter Valley, saying the loader was infrastructure being built in response to predicted increases in demand, not creating an opportunity for it.
