THE Maxwell underground coal project, approved with a string of 169 conditions yesterday by the Independent Planning Commission, is an object lesson in the major issues surrounding coal as a fuel, as an industry, and as the bete noir of the local and global environmental movements.
In a summary of the situation yesterday, the IPC said the project was a lawful and appropriate use of the land.
It was an underground (as opposed to open-cut) mine, which minimised the various impacts on surrounding landholders.
And it promised significant economic benefits.
Yet the response to the approval from environmentalists and the nearby equine industry was as hostile - if not more hostile - than that which helped energy company Malabar Resources acquire the project three years ago when Anglo American relinquished its hopes of mining the area as the Drayton South open-cut.
Perhaps that's just the nature of the game.
No side easily concedes to the other in war, and this is war.
But if the coal is to come out of that ground, then underground mining by longwall is surely less environmentally damaging - to the surface environment, at least - than the Hunter's dominant practice of open-cut blasting.
The studs - which should be savvy enough to see a growing opposition to horse-racing that could damage their own business models - must privately at least recognise the concessions that have been made in their favour.
As an environmental lobby, Lock The Gate Alliance has no such constraints, and from its perspective, this is "the sixth project the IPC has waved through" since the chief judge of the NSW Land and Environment Court, Brian Preston, included Scope 3 (or downstream) greenhouse gas emissions in ruling against the Rocky Hill proposal near Gloucester.
Having gained approval, Malabar must now find finance for the $500 million or more needed to develop the mine.
Two of its major shareholders, Tony Haggarty and Allan Davies, have made large fortunes in the past 30 years in NSW coal.
The big banks are supposedly reluctant to lend for new mines, so Maxwell could prove an interesting test case.
For its various opponents, the fight is far from over.
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