By Rhianwen Whitney
Posted
An anti-mining group has welcomed an energy company's announcement that it will try to reduce coal dust from trains on southern Queensland's Darling Downs to address fears about dust.
New Hope Coal says it will trial a water-based solution to stop coal dust blowing away from its wagons at the New Acland mine, north-west of Toowoomba.
Oakey Coal Action Alliance spokesman Peter Faulkner says it is a positive move.
"To be honest, I've got to give them credit where it's due," he said.
"They're offering to veneer the coal wagons, so I think it's a step in the right direction.
"However, I'm thinking well okay, along the western line, so that's about half of the coal trains along the western line and along the rail corridor will have this veneering, so I'm just sort of wondering if the other mines will follow suit.
Mr Faulkner says more steps must be taken.
"Now they haven't addressed the situation in Jondaryan, which is a major concern," he said.
"They've started to look at the issue along the rail corridor.
"I'd like to see them go a lot further including fixing up Jondaryan, covering that facility, adopting different loading and handling practices and really should be looking at the hours of operation."
Topics: air-pollution, mining-environmental-issues, mining-rural, mining-industry, coal, oakey-4401, toowoomba-4350
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