Dates: Feb 2005 - Oct 2008
Theme: Cumulative Impacts
This project, which was itself an example of cross-company collaboration, focused on the challenges involved in dealing with cumulative, or multi-mine, impacts at the local level.
Project Aims
Key objectives of the study, as endorsed by the industry steering committee for the project, were to:
- Develop a framework for assessing, monitoring and reporting the cumulative social, environmental and economic impacts – both positive and negative – of coal mining on regional areas where multiple mines operated.
- Undertake a trial of the framework in an area where there were multiple mines.
- Identify methods and indicators that can be applied to other regions of Australia
where multi-site impacts are a salient issue. - The main research activities undertaken for the project comprised:
- A review of published material, including: academic papers on the definition and measurement of cumulative impacts; the Annual Environmental Management Reports (AEMRs) prepared by each mine; Health, Safety Environment and Community (HSEC) reports (where available); and, environmental and social impact assessments prepared for current and proposed mining projects in Muswellbrook Shire.
- Consultations with community members, industry personnel and other stakeholders (see below for more details).
- Analysis of complaints data provided by the mines.
- Collection and analysis of data relating to the impacts selected for analysis. Some of this information was provided by the mines (for example, employment data), some
- was obtained from other organisations such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics
- (ABS) and the New South Wales Government (water quality data), and some was
- collected directly by the researchers (visual amenity data).
Project Partners
- Australian Coal Association Research Program