Wollongong Greens councillor Cath Blakey said the EPA needed to better monitor mining operations to protect the drinking water catchment. "The community wants to see the Illawarra escarpment and our drinking water catchment protected, and currently the EPA regulation is failing to do that," Cr Blakey said.

"So often it has come down to residents and volunteers raising the alarm, document creek pollution and collect water samples and send them off for independent testing.

"Too often mines are being approved with conditions that are not enforced or adhered to.

"Despite numerous end-of-panel reports that document seam to surface cracking, far beyond the mine subsidence forecast during the initial proposal assessment, the government has failed to halt longwall mining that damages the drinking water catchment of five million people."

Deidre Stuart, a member of the Protect Our Water Catchment group and Greens Wollongong City Council candidate, said laws were not applied equally. "If I park my car in the wrong place at the wrong time I am likely to get a parking ticket and fined," she said.

"If I am an indigenous person in this country then I might well also end up in prison for failure to pay a parking fine, and then dead.

"But if I am a coal company with friends in high places and with lots of money in my pocket, then it seems I can get away with making a mess and polluting our atmosphere with unabated methane for 30-plus years, and face no consequences."

Story by Ben Langford in the Illawarra Mercury, 22 August 2024.

The company which sparked a furore at the old copper slag dump at Primbee is having its licence revoked, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) said.

The Environment Protection Authority has moved to revoke Mimosa's pollution licence, saying it is not longer needed for the activities covered.

"The EPA wrote to the licensee to prepare and submit a scoping report to describe the activities to be undertaken at the premises and the proposed future use of the site," its notice states.

"The scoping report [submitted] proposed a number of activities for the premises including, but not limited to, the use of virgin excavated natural material to cover areas of exposed copper slag, and the proposed emplacement of alternative wastes not permitted to be received at the premises."

In January Wollongong Greens councillor Cath Blakey said the pollution licence shouldn't be able to hang around "like a zombie".

Story by Ben Langford in the Illawarra Mercury, 17 August 2023.

(Previously: Wollongong toxic waste site cleared prompting pollution fears for nearby homes, public wetland)

"It's over a decade since the Copper Smelter closed down and the fact that this EPL (Environment Protection Licence) is hanging around like a zombie that can be resurrected is really concerning."

"That licence shouldn't just be allowed to hang around for decades."

Cath Blakey, Greens candidate for Wollongong.

Story by Nick McLaren at ABC News Illawarra, 9 Jan 2023.

Story by Ben Langford in the Illawarra Mercury, 30 December 2022.

(Updated 17 August 2023: Primbee copper slag dump has its 'zombie licence' revoked by EPA)