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Booming NSW coal mining industry "causing illness" - report
Market watch top headlines
Australian reports

SYDNEY, April 12 AAP
April 13 2010, 06:24AM
Residents in the NSW Upper Hunter Valley have called for an independent study amid fears an expansion of the region's coal industry is causing health problems.

They want a public inquiry to establish how harmful dust and other toxins from the mines are.

The call has so far been rejected by the state government, although NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has said she will launch an investigation into individual health complaints.

The ABC's Four Corners program on Monday reported that a number of Upper Hunter Valley residents had developed illnesses, including respiratory diseases and cancer, after living near mines.

Some school children also were said to be suffering reduced lung capacity.

But currently there is only anecdotal evidence of a link between the illnesses and the area's booming mining industry.

The Upper Hunter region is now said to have 14 open cut coal mines producing 99 million tonnes of coal per year.

University of Newcastle associate professor Nick Higginbotham has researched the impact of large coal mines on the environment and human health.

"In my opinion, the area in the Upper Hunter Valley is not very good at all," he told Four Corners.

"There's also quite a bit of pollution that comes out of the two power stations in the Upper Hunter.

"The combined effect of the dust produced by the processes ... has caused over the last 10 or 15 years quite a bit of distress among residents who are concerned about whether being exposed to this much pollution has some kind of an impact on their health."

Earlier on Monday, Ms Keneally said her government would investigate individual health complaints.

"When we have reports of this nature we do go in to an initial investigation," she told reporters in Sydney.

"That's what will be happening. If the evidence requires further study, of course, that will happen."

NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said the state government could face future legal claims over the issue and urged state Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt to take action.

"The health minister cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the health risks of coal mining and power generators for Hunter residents, following news of a possible cancer cluster in Singleton and lower than average lung function in school children," Ms Rhiannon said in a statement.