DARACON’s bid to indefinitely defer a court challenge to its controversial Martins Creek Quarry had “no merit”, a NSW Land and Environment Court judge has ruled.
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Justice Terence Sheahan confirmed a February 13 start to Dungog Shire Council’s case challenging the Paterson quarry’s existing operations, after Daracon sought to defer the hearing until after a decision on its application to the NSW Government to significantly expand operations.
Dungog Council argued deferral would give Daracon companies “judicial sanction” to indefinitely operate the quarry under terms the council argues are in breach of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.
Justice Sheahan found “no merit” in Daracon’s argument for deferral until possibly 2018, when the expansion application is expected to be determined by the NSW Planning Assessment Commission, and after evidence the company had “virtually dismissed” serious acoustic and traffic issues raised by council and the community.
“The respondents (Daracon companies) appear to not even accept the veracity of the community’s complaints, detailed in many affidavits from local residents,” Justice Sheahan said in his decision on Wednesday.
Daracon applied in September to the NSW Department of Planning to extract up to 1.5 million tonnes of hard rock per year from an expanded quarry site.
The application came after Dungog Council launched Land and Environment Court action challenging existing quarry operations.
Justice Sheahan accepted the council’s argument that it would be “unreasonable and irrational” for the NSW Planning Assessment Commission to determine Daracon’s expansion proposal without knowing “whether, and to what extent, the quarry is presently operating lawfully”.
The Land and Environment Court heard the NSW Environment Protection Authority criticised Daracon’s environmental impact statement for the mine expansion plans, including air, noise, blasting and water quality impacts.
The EPA said it was “currently unable to accurately predict the potential impact” of the proposed changes.
The Office of Environment and Heritage said a biodiversity assessment report “does not comply” with relevant guidelines and had “other shortcomings”.
Dungog Council argued if it is successful in the February challenge “at the very least the impact from truck movements would be practically abated, being limited to 24 laden truck movements per day”.
Daracon asked Justice Sheahan to accept a deferral proposal that would have allowed it to run 150 laden trucks per day from the site, with a maximum of 40 laden truck movements per hour, to extract up to 950,000 tonnes of hard rock per year until a final decision on its expansion plans.
Justice Sheahan said he was “firmly of the opinion” that the council’s challenge in February would “usefully inform” Daracon’s expansion application and its assessment by NSW and Federal authorities.
He ordered Daracon to pay the council’s costs.
