Australia's biggest mining battle drawing to a close

 The NSW premier, Mike Baird, says mining
 under the most fertile soils in Australia
 ‘poses too great a risk for the future of this
 food bowl’. 

One of Australia’s biggest mining battles could be drawing to a close, with the enormous Shenhua Watermark coalmine looking set to be stopped by the state government after relentless community pressure.

In a major victory for the uneasy coalition of environmentalists, farmers and conservative politicians and commentators, the New South Wales government said it was moving to stop mining in the fertile farming soils of the Liverpool Plains.

The NSW premier, Mike Baird, said mining under the most fertile soils in the country “poses too great a risk for the future of this food bowl and the underground water sources that support it”.

It came with two announcements late on Thursday afternoon.

First, Baird announced the government was paying $200m to buy back BHP’s licence to build a huge underground coalmine at Caroona.

Second, the government also revealed it was negotiating with Shenhua to excise parts of its licence that encroached on the “strategic agricultural lands” of the Liverpool Plains.

Read Michael Slezak’s story on The Guardian - “From the rich black soil of the Liverpool Plains springs hope for coalmine-free future.”