February 23, 2025
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) has today applauded the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for acting quickly to fine Centennial Coal for discharging untreated water into the Wollangambe River near the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
The company was today fined $815,000 for five pollution offenses.
This is not the first time Centennial Coal has polluted the Wollangambe River in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Areas. Centennial Coal was fined $1.05 million and had to spend nearly $2 million in cleanup efforts after 200 tonnes of coal polluted the river in 2015.
"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 Nature Conservation Council NSW (NCC).
"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," Ms Mills said.
Centennial Coal has shown a consistent disregard to strict rules meant to protect the environment and safeguard Sydney's drinking water. In 2025, the NCC published an Environmental Scorecard, which demonstrated the company's terrible track record in the entire time it has operated around the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
Over a 23-year period, Centennial had breached its environmental licence more than 1400 times across 7 coal mine sites in the Greater Blue Mountains region.
"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 Ms 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."
The Clarence mine is due to close in December 2026, but Centennial Coal has applied for a five-year extension. This risks further spills, poor cleanup operations and more than 30,000 heavy truck movements through local roads.
