Coal news and updates

The state government has moved to grant itself extraordinary powers to cancel lucrative coal licences at the heart of corruption inquiries involving former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption has found Mr Macdonald acted corruptly in creating a mining tenement at Mount Penny in the Bylong Valley over land owned by the Obeid family.

It also found Mr Macdonald acted corruptly in granting the licence at Doyles Creek in the Hunter Valley to a company, Doyles Creek Mining, then chaired by the former union official John Maitland.

The commission has announced it will make recommendations to the state government in relation to what action it should take on the licences by the end of the year.

Cancellation of the licences would cost the companies that hold the licences - Cascade Coal in the case of Mount Penny and NuCoal in the case of Doyles Creek - tens of millions of dollars.

The companies have been campaigning hard against cancellation of the licences, including lobbying of NSW MPs.

The state government has now acted to head off any potential legal challenges should the ICAC recommend the cancellation of the licences in its report, which is expected later this month.

Premier Barry O'Farrell introduced a bill on Thursday morning granting the government a general power to cancel exploration or mining licences.

At present, the Mining Act only allows the government to cancel a licence if it can be proved that the approval process was flawed.

The bill introduced by Mr O'Farrell amends the Mining Act and the Petroleum Onshore Act "to make the public interest a ground for certain decisions relating to mining or petroleum rights or titles".

"The ICAC has to date issued three reports arising from operations Acacia and Jasper which have unearthed grossly corrupt conduct at Doyles Creek and Mount Penny respectively," he told parliament.

He said the government had hoped ICAC's advice would have been delivered before parliament rose for the year, but that would not be the case.

"It's important, therefore, that if it does become necessary for government to take action on ICAC's report we're in a position to do so," he said.

Mr O'Farrell said it was the government's intention to only use the special powers "where the ICAC has determined serious conduct has infected in some essential respect the granting of a licence or the licence holder itself".

"Extraordinary measures are needed following extraordinary revelations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption."

The legislation passed the Legislative Assembly on Thursday with the support of the opposition and is also expected to pass the upper house.

Comment is being sought from Cascade Coal and NuCoal Resources.

 

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/