{"id":589653,"date":"2026-04-08T06:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/589653\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T06:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:09:14","slug":"gippsland-farmers-angered-by-plans-to-turn-hazelwood-coal-mine-into-huge-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/589653\/","title":{"rendered":"Gippsland farmers angered by plans to turn Hazelwood coal mine into huge lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

For generations, Luke Stuckey’s family has bred Angus bulls on a farm at Flynn, in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.<\/p>\n

The family farm draws its water from the Latrobe River, which originates on the Baw Baw Plateau, near Mt Baw Baw, and flows through the Latrobe Valley and into the Gippsland Lakes.<\/p>\n

Mr Stuckey, a third-generation farmer, said over his lifetime, his family had noticed the effects of climate change on the river.<\/p>\n

“It’s sort of the last 40, 50 years, my dad especially has noticed a lot of changes,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The river’s deteriorating, the vegetation that’s along the river is falling in and creating absolute nightmares for us.<\/p>\n

“Flooding is getting a lot more common all the time. In the middle of winter we’re having flooding dramas.”<\/p>\n

Beyond environmental flows, the Latrobe River has a unique role in supplying water to local agriculture and the Latrobe Valley’s coal-fired power stations.<\/p>\n

But as the power stations close, the plants’ owners plan to use river water to fill the massive mine voids they leave behind and turn them into lakes.<\/p>\n

The plan is contentious with farmers, who want additional water redirected to agriculture.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jamie Lowe says similar projects have been carried out overseas. (ABC News: Danielle Pope)<\/p>\n

Hazelwood first for rehabilitation<\/p>\n

The first coal mine slated for rehabilitation is the massive Hazelwood open cut.<\/p>\n

Hazelwood, which closed in 2017, is bigger than Sydney Harbour and separated from the town of Morwell by just four lanes of highway.<\/p>\n

The neighbouring Yallourn coal mine will follow in 2028, with the last, Loy Yang, to close in 2035.<\/p>\n

Hazelwood’s owner, French energy giant Engie, wants to fill it with water from the Latrobe River.<\/p>\n

It has conducted environmental assessments and determined that a lake is the safest and most efficient way to rehabilitate the mine.<\/p>\n

The company is in the process of developing an environmental effects statement (EES) for the plan.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hazelwood mine will be the first mine to be rehabilitated in Victoria.\u00a0 (ABC News: Robert French)<\/p>\n

Engie head of regulation and compliance Jamie Lowe said the company was looking to successful rehabilitation projects across Australia and overseas for guidance.<\/p>\n

“While this project is very much novel for Australia, it is not a new concept to fill a pit lake or to fill a pit with water and turn it into a pit lake, and then to access it for public recreation and other uses,” Mr Lowe said.<\/p>\n

It will be no small feat if the company achieves its plan.<\/p>\n

About 637 gigalitres of water would be needed to fill Hazelwood, over a period of 10 to 20 years.<\/p>\n

But locals are concerned about the impact filling the mine with water will have on the Latrobe River and associated economies downstream.<\/p>\n

River is a lifeline<\/p>\n

As well as managing his farm, Mr Stuckey is president of the Latrobe River Irrigators, a group representing about 40 farmers who irrigate their farms with river water.<\/p>\n

He said farmers relied on a secure water supply from the river, particularly during drier periods.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Latrobe River provides a key irrigation source for many farmers.\u00a0 (ABC News: Danielle Pope)<\/p>\n

“Irrigation is used to just be able to lengthen our seasons and get better productivity through the tougher times,” Mr Stuckey said.<\/p>\n

“[It’s a] bit of a drought [insurance] policy as well. We can always have a bit of green grass to keep the cattle going.”<\/p>\n

Mr Stuckey said farmers were worried reduced flows downstream would place further stress on the river if Latrobe water was used to fill coal mines.<\/p>\n

“It’s just an absolute waste of quality water,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We all know the entire environment we are heading towards.<\/p>\n

“Everyone keeps saying it’s going to be drier. When we do get rain, it will be more rain, but when there’s longer periods of less rain, it’s just silly.”<\/p>\n

Lakes system under pressure<\/p>\n

Victorian government modelling shows the Latrobe River is drying and since 1997, stream flows in the Latrobe Basin have dropped almost 30 per cent.<\/p>\n

The government’s Latrobe Valley Regional Water Study found that surface water availability in the Latrobe River system had decreased significantly.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hayley Sestokas says the government should be considering alternative water sources. (ABC News: Danielle Pope)<\/p>\n

Environment Victoria local community organiser Hayley Sestokas said the river was already experiencing negative impacts from years of mining use.<\/p>\n

“The impact of that amount of flow being taken from our rivers at a time when we really need to be returning environmental flows to buffer the impacts of climate change and salt inundation in the Gippsland Lakes, really could spell a death knell for our Gippsland Lakes, and the economies, the agriculture and the communities that rely on them,” Ms Sestokas said.<\/p>\n

Environmentalists want the government to consider other options, including using recycled water to fill the mine.<\/p>\n

Lake or liability?<\/p>\n

In 2011, significant rain led to a sinkhole, collapsing the walls of the Hazelwood mine.<\/p>\n

\"Excavators<\/p>\n

After significant rain in 2011, the walls of the Hazelwood mine collapsed.\u00a0 (Supplied: ABC News\u00a0)<\/p>\n

The event closed the Princes Freeway for about six months and threatened the nearby town of Morwell, highlighting the need to rehabilitate mines effectively.<\/p>\n

Rae Mackay is a hydrogeologist and was appointed as the first Latrobe Valley Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner in 2017.<\/p>\n

His position was created after the devastating 2014 Hazelwood mine fire to ensure rehabilitation of the mines would be stable.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rae Mackay was the former Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner. (ABC News: Danielle Pope)<\/p>\n

Professor Mackay said filling the mine pits with water was the most viable option.<\/p>\n

“The pit lake option makes it possible to actually use the land around the mines, to use the water within the mines productively with a minimum cost of maintenance,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said that filling the pit with water would prevent a recurrence of the 2011 highway closure.<\/p>\n

“The idea of filling the pit with water is to provide a force, if I can put it that way, that holds the pit batters in place against any environmental action, such as a heavy rainfall event,” he said.<\/p>\n

Looking forward<\/p>\n

Engie said the company understood community concerns about its plan and was working to balance the needs of a safe rehabilitation that worked for everyone, including miners, irrigators and the environment.<\/p>\n

“There’s no question that the EES is taking a lot longer than we want it to and we appreciate the community frustration that the site isn’t further progressed and the EES isn’t finalised,” Mr Lowe said.<\/p>\n

The company said it wanted the state government to advance through to the next stage of its EES so open discussions could be had with all stakeholders about the plan for the pit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For generations, Luke Stuckey’s family has bred Angus bulls on a farm at Flynn, in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,224668,98934,295,224666,224669,224667,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-589653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-coal-mine-rehab","11":"tag-engie","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-hazelwood-mine-rehabilitation","14":"tag-latrobe-valley","15":"tag-making-a-lake-out-of-hazelwood-mine","16":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}