The citizen science group called the Leard Forest Research Node conducts field work including noise and dust monitoring as well as koala habitat mapping and other ecological investigations around Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek mine and Idemitsu’s Boggabri mine in north-east NSW near Tamworth.
They have commenced the first and only independent air quality monitoring being conducted in this highly coal mining-afflicted area.
Neither the government nor Whitehaven Coal are providing reliable information about what levels of dust the people are being exposed to. In the midst of this chasm of independent information, the Whitehaven Coal mine has been providing false and misleading data — including negative dust readings to the NSW EPA. It was the subject of an official complaint by Enviro Justice Australia, on behalf of the Wando Conservation and Cultural Centre Inc, but the NSW EPA has responded to the complaint stating that the errors, though frequent, are “not material”. The NSW EPA also calls on Californian air monitoring practices, which state that the regular negative values being reported, and the labelling of negative dust values as “valid” are acceptable features of an air quality monitoring system.
Comedian Nick Sun came to visit our group in Maules Creek and Boggabri , NSW, and made a fun recruitment video to give people a flavour of what we do. Its mainly aimed at a younger audience, but hopefully older people can see the attraction of what we are doing too.
Leard Forest Research Node are seeking interested community members to take part in some of the above, and other, activities. We are especially interested in older professionals, in a variety of disciplines, including retired and semi-retired people. Want to be part of purposeful Citizen Science with the Leard Forest Research Node? Put your lifetime of expertise to work with the Leard Forest Research Node and make a difference.
Here is a link to the registration form on Get Feedback. Or contact leardforestresearchnode@gmail.com to ask any questions.
