{"id":18392,"date":"2014-05-21T17:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T07:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=18392"},"modified":"2019-04-13T23:58:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T13:58:03","slug":"nsw-lets-hibernating-animals-die-to-speed-up-whitehaven-mine-by-a-sad-georgefwoods-at-leardblockade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/nsw-lets-hibernating-animals-die-to-speed-up-whitehaven-mine-by-a-sad-georgefwoods-at-leardblockade\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW lets hibernating animals die to speed up Whitehaven mine, by a sad @georgefwoods at #leardblockade"},"content":{"rendered":"[clear]\n

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The bitter truth and the bitter cold: chainsaw surgery for the animals of Leard State Forest
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\"leard_winter-(2)\"You can be aware that something is true, without really feeling<\/em> it, and only come up against your illusions, and your naivety, when your knowledge is made real, and you actually experience the terrible truth first hand. It\u2019s a truism in #nswpol that coal mining companies can \u201csay anything they like before approval, and do anything they like afterwards.\u201d It\u2019s a pattern with which coal-affected communities are familiar that conditions of mine approvals are regularly broken and changed after approval is secured. Mines get bigger, creeks get polluted, offset deadlines get forgiven and water management plans get edited. I knew already that all of this happens, but this week, I feel it like never before. At the stroke of a pen, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment has allowed Whitehaven Coal to continue their clearing in Leard State Forest over winter, when many native species, including threatened bats, mammals and reptiles, are in torpor \u2013 a kind of hibernation. I feel it now, as well as knowing it: there are no controls on the coal industry that they can’t negotiate their way out of: \u00a0a basic condition imposed on them to prevent animal cruelty has now been lifted.<\/p>\n

On Friday last week, the Department of Planning and Environment changed a key management plan<\/a> for the Maules Creek coal mine to allow clearing to occur in Leard State Forest over winter, when many native animals will be vulnerable to injury and death. Previously, the Biodiversity Management Plan prevented clearing from taking place over winter, and other nearby mines, Boggabri and Tarrawonga, have similar conditions in place. The condition was a key part of claims by Whitehaven and the Government that threatened wildlife would be able to leave Leard State Forest when clearing took place and move into their controversial offset areas.<\/p>\n

Instead of prohibiting clearing over winter, Section 5.4 of the Biodiversity Management Plan now has a detailed procedure for finding the bats and trying to prevent them being killed or left for dead which involves using chainsaws to perform surgery on trees where hibernating bats are found. Either that, or they’ll do a literature review:<\/p>\n

\u00a0Clearing of areas for mining will be undertaken when practicable in late summer and early autumn in order to avoid key breeding\/hibernation seasons for threatened bat and bird species known<\/em> to reside in the Leard State Forest.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\n<\/em>Whilst clearing during winter and spring months will be preferentially avoided as far as practicable, it is possible that clearing into June may be required for the first year of operation of the Project. Hence, this restriction will not apply to the construction and first year of operations.<\/strong> Should the first year of operational clearing be likely to take place into June, the principle objective is to identify the presence of active roost\/nest sites, particularly for threatened forest owls and bats in the clearing area before June (when the species\u2019 are likely to be breeding or hibernating) and to carefully translocate animals outside the zone of impact. Follow up actions to delay or expedite clearing of selected areas should take place based on the location and abundance of captures or roost\/nest sites.<\/p>\n

Further to the above, the procedures to mitigate impacts on bat species will include one or more<\/strong> of the following measures:<\/p>\n