Introduction
This case involved a decision by the Minister of Planning under
the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, to
authorise variations to the Ashton Coal Project being carried out
in the Upper Hunter Valley of NSW. The variations that were
authorised by the Minister were the instalment of 15 surface gas
drainage wells that were to be used to assist the ventilation of
gas methane into the atmosphere.
Background
In October 2002, Ashton Coal Operations Pty Ltd, was granted
permission (The Principal Consent), to construct an open cut coal
mine, an underground (Longwall) coal mine, and the building and
operation of associated surface facilities, which were to be later
known as the Ashton Coal Project. The approval granted allowed
Ashton to extract up to 5.45 million tonnes ("MT") of
run-of-mine (" ROM") coal per year from its open cut and
underground mining operations, with up to 3.2 MT of coal permitted
to be extracted from its underground mining
