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• State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 homepage
• Introduction
• Summary of Muswellbrook Shire
• Council's role
• Towards sustainability
• Human settlements
• Water resources
• Land
• Atmosphere
• Biodiversity

Discussion

Contaminated Land

Many past land use practices have resulted in the contamination of the land and water around many developments. Contaminated soil can pose a serious health risk and the risk to the environment may affect local waterways and groundwater. The regulation of land contamination by Council is primarily through the planning process. State Environmental Planning Policy 55 - Remediation of Land contains several provisions for Council to consider the potential of land to be contaminated before it is redeveloped or rezoned. The SEPP also requires property owners or developers to notify Council when they undertake contamination remediation works and give details of the results of any remediation.

Council holds details of information about past land uses that may have led to contamination and details of any remediation.
During the 2010/2011 reporting period:

• No SEPP55 Category 1 DAs received
• No SEPP55 Category 2 notifications c16 received
• 1 SEPP55 Validation notifications c18 received

Council will continue to monitor the redevelopment of land to ensure contaminated land is not redeveloped without due consideration of past uses. 

In addition the DECCW also regulates contaminated land that poses a significant risk of harm to human health or the environment. Under the Contaminated Land Management Act, DECCW can regulate major contaminated sites. DECCW holds a Contaminated Land Register. No notices are recorded for the Muswellbrook Shire Council area.

Coal Mining

Coal Mining is a significant industry in the Muswellbrook Shire covering over 174 square kilometres in approved mining developments. All mines are required to publish an Annual Environmental Management Report (AEMR) which is available from each mine.

In this State of Environment Report some data has been collated to give a picture of the overall state of the mining industry in relation to land disturbance and rehabilitation. The data from each mine is relevant to the last reporting period of each AEMR and may not be concurrent with other mines or the reporting period of this SoE. However, annual change will remain a good relevant indicator of the industry as a whole.

Coal mining flanks the New England Highway North of Singleton with five projects to the west of the Highway around Muswellbrook and one mine at the north of Denman.

One mine, Dartbrook, is an underground mine in Care and Maintenance mode with no active mining currently occurring. Mt Pleasant Mine, North West of Muswellbrook is yet to commence substantial works. Six mines are currently in operation.

Figure 11: Mining Impact in Muswellbrook Shire to June 2011:

The Indicators chosen to track mining land disturbance and rehabilitation are Change in Total Active Mining and Emplacement area and Rehabilitation to clearing ratio.

Change in Total Active Mining and Emplacement area is the difference between the total active mining and emplacement area of the current year minus the total active mining and emplacement area of the previous year divided by the previous year’s area multiplied by 100. This will indicate whether overall mining activity is growing or declining. A positive number indicates growth and negative indicates decline.

The total active mining and emplacement area for the 2010/11 reporting period is 38.89 sq km. The previous year’s active disturbance area was 33.93 sq km. The Change in Total Active Mining and Emplacement area in the 2010/11 year is 15%.

As this is the first time the value has been calculated we can not determine a trend, however, because the indicator includes previous years data it does show that there has been a significant increase in the mining foot print.

The Rehabilitation to Clearing Ratio is the ratio of rehabilitated area to cleared area. In any given year land is cleared for new mining and land is rehabilitated when mining is completed. Where the land cleared over the Shire is greater than the land rehabilitated, more land is being disturbed and exposed to erosion than is being stabilised and returned to a sustainable landform. It is considered that a ratio above 1 represents positive efforts in rehabilitating mining landscapes.

The Rehabilitation to Clearing Ratio is 0.1:1 which is halved since the previous period. Significantly more land is being cleared each year than is being rehabilitated.

Table 11: Table 11 Area of Mining in Muswellbrook Shire

Mining land domain	2009/10	2010/11
Cleared (sqkm)	6.88	8.53
Active Mining (sqkm)	14.92	17.95
Emplacement (sqkm)	19.01	20.94
Rehabilitated (sqkm)	1.16	0.96
Change in total active mining		15%
Rehabilitation to clearing ratio	0.2	0.1
Total active mining and emplacement (sqkm)	33.93	38.89
Approved for disturbance (sqkm)	173	174.09

While rehabilitation takes significant time, the land can be stabilised and grass cover established reasonably quickly. Therefore any land identified as rehabilitated, may still require maintenance such as weeding or replanting of grasses, shrubs or trees. Long term monitoring of the success of any rehabilitation is not reported in the State of Environment Report.

Further information on environmental issues relating to mining can be sourced from individual mine’s AEMR available from the mining company, usually on their website.

Bushfires

Due to a wet spring and wet early summer it was a very quiet bushfire season. The NSW Rural Fire Service attended 61 bush and grass fires calls and performed 47.2 hectares of hazard reduction burns.  The amount of land affected by bushfire during the reporting period was negligible.

Future Projects

Council is continuing to develop its Contaminated Land Information System to provide greater extent of information about contaminated Land Management in the Shire,

Council will further investigate what information can be provided in an efficient and effective manner to inform the community about other land related environmental indicators.

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