Farmer Tanya Plant and her daughters, one of whom suffers coughing fits that her doctor says may have "environmental" causes. Picture: Jack Tran Source: The Australian
AUSTRALIA'S resources boom is already generating a lot of dust, noise and fumes, and the amount stirred up is only going to increase, given plans by miners to double coal and iron ore extraction this decade.
Yet state and federal governments are doing surprisingly little to monitor and regulate these impacts on the people living in the shadow of mining and energy projects. While state governments require companies to submit voluminous environmental impact statements, designed to protect flora and fauna, less is being done to protect people.
From the time minerals are dug from the ground and shipped to port in open wagons to the time they leave our shores as exports, governments generally leave it to the companies concerned to monitor the harmful effects of toxic substances on people, and the reporting seems patchy.
Tanya Plant, a Queensland farmer and mother of two, worries about the effect the emissions from New Hope Corporation's coal mine, located about 2km from her home, may be having on her family. Her two-year-old daughter has been having coughing fits and after successive trips to the doctor she has been told the causes may be "environmental".
The Australian
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