Bye Bye Bylong

The Bylong community has been decimated over the past six years by a foreign mining company’s acquisition of agricultural land.

Korean mining company Kepco plans to build a coal mine across the entire Bylong Valley, excavating about 6.5 million tonnes of coal a year.

Last month, the mine received preliminary approval from the NSW Government following Kepco’s purchase of the majority of properties in the valley.

“I’ve been fighting them [Kepco] for about six years,” says Graham Tanner, the last remaining resident in Bylong yet to sell his property. “They just tell bloody lies and just walk over the top of you.”

Lock the Gate Alliance last week boycotted the Planning Assessment Commission’s (PAC) public hearing. George Woods, Lock the Gate Coordinator, said that the people who attended the protest came to express their opposition to the mine. She described Bylong’s situation as devastating, “They've [Kepco] actually already torn the community apart before they've gotten approval for the mine.”

“People are given an impossible choice. They can live with the intolerable noise and dust impacts of living next door to a coal mine or they can leave the district in which they have invested so much of their lives,” Ms Woods said.

However, Jinesh Patel, media officer for Kepco, said that the majority of the speakers at the PAC hearing were in favour of the project because of the employment opportunities. “This project could be a shot in the arm for Rylstone and Kandos communities.”

Garth Downey, a former Bylong resident, is “disgusted by the tactics Kepco uses to buy and silence people”, referring to the nondisclosure agreements that residents must sign when selling their properties to Kepco.

“They [Kepco] are very good at breaking people's hearts and trying to shut them up,” Mr Downey said. He witnessed the animosity between the Bylong residents on the fringe and those who capitalised from selling their land.

Ms Woods said, “[Kepco] ask people to sign nondisclosure agreements, so they fall silent and don't talk to their neighbours anymore. It divides people and causes a lot of conflict. There are a lot of mental health concerns.”

However, Mr Patel says that the confidentiality clause is a routine process to protect both parties. “These people don’t necessarily want their neighbours to know the price of their property.”

As one of the last remaining residents, Mr Tanner has witnessed the destruction of the community. “Every Friday night we used to go to the sports ground and have a drink and there used to be 60 of us and now there's nobody.”