The New South Wales Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday ordered Australian coal mining company Centennial Coal to pay $815,000 in fines and penalties after it was found to have discharged untreated water into the Wollangambe River near the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
Clarence Colliery Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Centennial Coal Company Pty Ltd, was ordered on Monday to pay $815,000 in fines and penalties after being convicted of five environmental offences linked to discharges of untreated mine water into the Wollangambe River.
The NSW EPA successfully prosecuted the company for all charges under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) following guilty pleas relating to pollution incidents from its Clarence coal mine near Lithgow in December of 2023 and April of 2024.
Clarence is an underground coal mine that Centennial Coal says services “the export market and boutique domestic customers” and extracts up to 3 million tonnes of coal each year.
“This is a substantial penalty, and it should serve as a warning that pollution comes at a cost – not only to the environment and communities, but to licence holders who break the law,” said Tony Chappel, NSW EPA CEO.
“Sediment and coal material entering waterways has the potential to cause serious environmental harm. This runoff contained elevated levels of nickel and zinc and should not have been released into the environment. All mine operators are responsible for ensuring robust systems are in place to prevent this from happening.
“In this case, the company not only allowed large volumes of turbid, contaminated water to overflow into the Wollangambe River, but it also failed to properly test its pollution incident response plan and comply with a prevention notice. That is simply not good enough.
“Those obligations exist to protect the environment and the community – they are not optional. When licence holders cut corners or fall short of their responsibilities, we will take strong enforcement action. This prosecution is a clear example of that.”
The NSW Land and Environment Court handed down a $543,500 fine, ordered the company to pay the EPA’s legal and investigation costs of around $185,000, and also required Clarence Colliery to contribute an additional $86,500 towards rehabilitation works for Long Swamp near Lithgow.
Centennial Coal will also be required to publish notices in nominated newspapers, on its website, and on its LinkedIn page.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) praised the EPA for its quick response to Centennial Coal’s actions and noted that this was not the first time the company had been caught polluting the Wollangambe River. Specifically, in 2015, the company was fined $1.05 million and had to spend nearly $2 million in cleanup efforts after 200 tonnes of coal polluted the river.
“Centennial Coal has issued an apology for the latest in their continued pattern of polluting important waterways in the Blue Mountains, but an apology isn’t good enough,” said Jacqui Mills, senior climate campaigner at the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.
“Centennial Coal needs to clean up its act. This is just the latest incident in years of reckless environmental destruction around the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.”
The NCC was also one of four groups that formed the Gardens of Stone Alliance to publish an Environmental Scorecard on Centennial Coal’s operations, which demonstrated a “track record of environmental harm” in the Greater Blue Mountains Area are within the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area (SCA).
According to the report, Centennial had breached its environmental license more than 1,400 times across 7 coal mine sites in the Greater Blue Mountains region over a period of 23 years.
Though due to close in December of 2026, Centennial Cola has nevertheless applied for a five-year extension which, if approved, risks further spills, poor cleanup operations, and tens of thousands of heavy truck movements through local roads.
“We are calling on the NSW government to take control and more actively address the impacts of coal mining and coal-fired power stations in the Lithgow region,” said Mills.
“The government needs to ensure we are not left with a toxic legacy, and instead local streams and the community are left with a healthy and safe environment once coal mining ends.”
