Hunter Valley residents have called on the state government to shelve plans for several mining projects after the Premier on Thursday indicated he’d kill off a coal project owned by former New South Wales Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid.
Barry O’Farrell yesterday said he’d consider matters of public interest when deciding on an application for Cascade Coal’s $1-billion project at Mt Penny in the Bylong Valley.
The ICAC is investigating claims that former New South Wales Mining Minister Ian Macdonald rigged the tender process for coal exploration licences to benefit Mr Obeid.
The ICAC is also looking into the Yarrawa Coal and Loyal Coal projects as well as the Doyles Creek project at Jerrys Plains.
The Lock The Gate Alliance Regional co-ordinator Steve Phillips wants those projects to be blocked as well.
“They have been forced onto unsuspecting and unwilling local communities through a dodgy process that is now the subject of one
of the most far-reaching investigations in ICAC history,” he said.
