The powerful Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association has warned the Hunter Valley Continuation Project could drive hundreds of millions of dollars of future investment out of the region.
The association, which represents the owners of billions of dollars worth of bloodstock, told a public hearing this week that the proposal to allow HVO to continue mining into the 2040s would be environmentally, socially and economically disastrous for the Upper Hunter's long-term future.
Despite the close proximity of several horse studs to the coal mining project, the HTBA said the horse industry's concerns about air, noise and visual impacts had been largely ignored in the planning process.
"The impacts on their operations and the entire ECIC have been disregarded by both the Department and the Proponent," HTBA director of policy and public affairs Hellen Georgopoulos told the Independent Planning Commission this week.
"Our industry's voices have been ignored in the assessments you have before you. Not only from the environmental assessments but also from the economic and social impact assessments.
"Our industry, our business model, our investment prospects are premised on a clean, green and serene operating environment where no detail is left to chance to produce champion equine athletes."
The HTBA, which has the equivalent economic and political influence as the mining sector, has previously fought pitched battles against the Bickham Coal Project in 2010 and the Drayton South open-cut project in 2013 and 2017.
Ms Georgopoulos said the HVO continuation project represented a major threat to the region's long-term economic growth.
"Our industry has played, and continues to play a significant role in the development of this state and our region - economically, historically, reputationally, and culturally. We are the feeder industry to the second largest sport in Australia behind rugby league," she said.
"With the right protections we have the ability to grow, attract more investment, diversify and create more sustainable long term jobs, business opportunities and economic growth into the future - activities that we have been thwarted from pursuing and investments that have been lost, due to the need to protect what we have from mining encroachment over the past decades."
The HTBA represents the second-largest concentration of horse studs in the world outside Kentucky US.
Half of the racehorses born in Australia every year are born in the Hunter Valley, while up to 90 per cent of thoroughbreds exported or sold at auctions every year are born or bred in the Hunter Valley.
Ms Georgopoulos said the industry was a crucial pillar of the regional economy, as well as a key to future growth and prosperity.
"These farms are the cradle of the thoroughbred breeding industry; they are maternity wards where valuable mares produce valuable foals; they are boarding farms where pregnant mares are kept and young fillies and colts are born, raised and trained," she said.
"They are places where whole communities live, work and raise their children; they are tourism destinations in their own right; and they are sites where clients and future investors come to inspect valuable bloodstock and make serious investment decisions."
A HVO spokeswoman said the company had the utmost respect for the region's thoroughbred breeders.
She said HVO had successfully operated alongside the region's equine industry for many decades and proved that diverse industries can and do coexist.
"For more than 20 years, we have responsibly managed our environmental impacts while supporting local jobs, businesses and communities," the spokeswoman said.
"We have taken the concerns of the Hunter thoroughbred and horse breeders seriously and met with our nearest horse stud on several occasions to better understand concerns around visual amenity and air, noise and dust impacts.
"It's important to remember that the proposed mining footprint of the HVO Continuation Project is actually moving in a direction away from local horse studs. As such, we do not expect there to be a material impact"
