Planning Minister to review Shenhua's water data, following damning report

Recently, Caroona Coal Action Group chair Susan Lyle travelled to Sydney with water expert Professor Ian Acworth, to meet with Planning Minister Rob Stokes.

She said the minister was "very receptive" to the group's message.

"He told us they are getting their own hydrologist to examine the report," Ms Lyle said.

"They also agreed to our request that Professor Acworth be in on those discussions.

"His knowledge is absolutely paramount when specific storage is concerned. He's an authority on it and that's why we took him along."

READ ALSO

Mr Stokes' office said the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment had engaged an independent groundwater expert to review and provide advice on the UNSW report.

The advice provided by the independent groundwater expert will inform the Department's review of any management plans submitted by Shenhua.

Ms Lyle said the government should have picked up on the disparity in the water modelling between the now defunct BHP Caroona mine and Shenhua's, which is only a stone's throw away.

"From their own consultants, BHP said the water draw down from its mine would be 184 metre - yet Shenhua's is less than two metres," Ms Lyle said.

"That was a massive red flag and the government should have done something to investigate it then. They didn't, but it was such a red flag to us that we went ahead and got this report done.

"And we haven't got some tin-pot company to do the report, we got the the University of NSW to do it."

Want to have your say? Click here to write a letter to the editor

The "worst drought on record" highlighted the need to protect the region's groundwater.

"The Liverpool Plains has an absolutely abundant supply of underground water. If they stuff it, there's no fixing it," Ms Lyle said.

"That's what they've got to realise. It's like breaking an egg, once it's broken, you can't fix it.

"Why would they risk an area like this, which is our food bowl? To me it's just crazy."

Ms Lyle said the group was also seeking a meeting with the NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey about the report's findings.

Shenhua stands by its water modelling, which the company said had been by "the panel of the nation's best water experts (the IESC), as well as four other expert reviewers".

"These experts have all agreed that the modelling is robust and can be relied on to predict any impacts on water," a Shenhua spokesperson said.

"They have said actual impacts on groundwater are likely to be smaller than what has been predicted."