POWER AND THE PASSION: Muswellbrook former miner Pete Kennedy reveals what life is like living next door to a Hunter coal mine

Living in the shadow of 'Mt un-Pleasant' has its drawbacks, he says. The mine dumps are getting higher and higher, blocking an increasing amount of afternoon sun.

"I have invested quite a few thousand dollars in a solar system to cut back on expenses and do my bit for the environment and as the dumps get higher I lose the afternoon western sun earlier," he said.

"And when the wind blows from a certain direction my place gets covered in dust, and every fortnight or so I hose the place off. I have to pay someone to get up on my roof and wash down the solar panels because they lose their solar capacity when they're covered in dust ... plus the health impacts.

"My wife suffers from asthma, not as a result of mining... but we've got to go and see an ENT (ear nose and throat) specialist for her to try and work out whether the environment here is not the best for her.

"There is nothing I can do about it. I used to be very, very active in the environment groups, but you can bang the drum as loud as you like, people just don't take any notice."

Mr Kennedy has worked as a mining supervisor, acting on-site project manager, driving trucks and other mining-related roles, and is a self-confessed, die-hard trade unionist. He says the changes since he started in the industry are phenomenal.

"The equipment is becoming bigger," he said. "A big truck when I first started out was a 50 tonne truck, or a 75 tonne truck was a pretty big truck, and if you were driving one of those, you'd made the big time. But since then, they are hauling between 250 and 300 tonnes, an ultra class truck.

"The output per person is steadily climbing, but the net take home pay, for the person who is sitting in the truck for 12.6 hours minus the two breaks that they have, there's no parity there."

News of Origin Energy's decision to shut down the furnaces at its Eraring power station in 2025, seven years earlier than expected, will have sent "a few ripples" through the mining camp down around the lake area, Mr Kennedy said. The decision will slash the amount of coal burned in New South Wales by around a quarter.

"If the coal industry was given it's notice, and six months to finish up, there would be literally years of mine rehabilitation to be done", he said. "It couldn't employ everybody but a lot of mining equipment could be used to rehabilitate what's been done."

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