A NSW coalmine which took water without a proper licence will pay almost a quarter of a million dollars in compensation.
The Natural Resources Access Regulator says Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd has agreed to pay $200,000 for taking water from the Redbank and Myrtle creeks for its mining operations.
NRAR director of investigations and enforcement Lisa Stockley said inquiries into Tahmoor Coal's work at the site southwest of Sydney began in 2020.
She said the company had accepted an enforceable undertaking (EU) to pay to redress the water unlawfully taken.
“The company acknowledges the harm done to the environment and the community and has committed to a series of steps to pay for the water taken to better measure and account for water take at the site, and to ensure they remain compliant with the rules in future,” Ms Stockley said on Wednesday .
It is the third large-scale mining-related EU made by NRAR in recent months, with Japanese energy giant Idemitsu found to be unlawfully collecting and using the water at its Boggabri Coal Mine in northeastern NSW last month.
Idemitsu also entered an EU and agreed to pay $54,000 in compensation.
Anti-mining activists deplored the decision not to prosecute as a "slap on the wrist", but Ms Stockley said there were strict enforceable undertakings which must be met by companies that admit to breaching the law.
“Companies sometimes propose to NRAR that we consider accepting an enforceable undertaking to remedy significant breaches of NSW water law as an alternative to court action," she said.
She said before an EU could be accepted, the company must take action to address the rule-breaking and acknowledge the breach of the Water Management Act.
Tahmoor Coal will pay $150,000 in compensation, another $50,000 for not having adequate water licences, and another $25,000 for rehabilitation work along the banks of Stonequarry Creek, near Hume Oval at Tahmoor.
The ruling follows NRAR's finding that underground longwall mining had fractured Redbank and Myrtle creeks, causing surface water to be diverted from them.
Tahmoor Coal must also report on a quarterly basis to NRAR about its future water management of the creeks, as well as commit to ongoing consultation with Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council about the impact the company's operations may have on local waterways.
