Coal Communities Forum

Some forum participants were local residents who had never been involved in community activism before. Others belonged to peak environment groups or were more seasoned community campaigners. They were united by a common aim – to hold the government and the coal mining industry to better account for the impact that the coal mining industry is having on their communities and the environment. The forum participants resolved unanimously to form an alliance of coal affected communities. They exchanged ideas, telephone numbers and email addresses.

Since that time more people have joined the alliance and more meetings have been held, such as the forum held in Lithgow in July 2005 (pictured below).

The idea for this report grew out of the sentiments expressed at the forum. People are sick and tired of the relentless spin they receive from the government and the glossy brochures and reports produced by mining companies. It is an antidote to the hundreds of letters and reports written by ministers, bureaucrats and mining executives that often deny the problems, evade the issues, obscure the facts or avoid the answers.

The Greens published a report titled NSW Coal Issues Forum detailing the concerns of regional coal communities.
download report (2MB pdf)