This document discusses solutions to the challenges of coal mining in the Liverpool Plains region of Australia. It summarizes the views of early economists like Jevons and Marshall who recognized the finite nature of coal reserves. It proposes establishing "Agricultural Protected Areas" where mining would be excluded to protect high quality agricultural land and water resources. These areas would aim to conserve natural and social resources for long-term food security and economic advantage, in the same way other protected areas conserve cultural and environmental values. The document concludes that as non-renewable energy sources decline, protected areas can help transition communities to more sustainable futures while maintaining a market economy.

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A SOLUTION TO THE INTRACTABLE
PROBLEMS OF COAL MINING IN THE
LIVERPOOL PLAINS
Dr Boyd Dirk Blackwell
Principal Research Leader (ECVM)
CRC Remote Economic Par>cipa>on, UNE Business School, Armidale
Presenta(on to the New England Energy Futures Forum, 21 May 2016, UNE, Armidale
Policy Context: The End of Coal?
• Some mines closing others beginning – local to global
scale of change
• Physical and economic limits to the con>nued use of
non-renewables across these scales
– including social and environmental limits with these
broader aspects which are inculcated into our economic
systems through insEtuEons e.g.
• Markets incl. market mechanisms, pricing, taxes etc.
• regula>on, law and compliance
• Ministerial approvals
* The greatest possible good for the greatest number of individuals
Are these enough and are they serving the common
good*?
hUp://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=4390

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Jevons Paradox, 1865
• The Coal Ques(on; An Inquiry Concerning The
Progress Of The Na(on, And The Probable
Exhaus(on Of Our Coal-mines
Alfred Marshall 1878, During
the Industrial Revolu>on
• ‘When at last nature gains
the day, as it eventually
must, in other words,
when economies here
cease to cheapen prices, or
prevent prices from
becoming dearer, and
begin to act on the
consumpEon so as to
reduce it, the end of the
coal-produc>on of Great
Britain on the great scale
will already have begun’
(Marshall 1878, p. 324)

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Alfred Marshall 1878
• ‘This country's fortunes are
gradually being merged in those
of a greater Britain, which,
largely through the aid of the
coal whose prospec>ve loss we
are lamen>ng, has grown
beyond the limits of these
islands to overspread the vastest
and richest regions of the earth;
nor have we any reason to fear
that the great inheritance which
America and Australia and New
Zealand have thus accepted
from us will, in their hands, be
dealt with unworthily.’
(Marshall 1878, p. 349)
Marshall’s Key Ques>on
• Focus on the commercial waste – what I have synthesized to
call commercial drivers for the end of coal rather than the
physical drivers.
• Physical drivers (Marshall called physical waste) are not
enough – technology can reduce the cost and open up supply
• In contrast, commercial drivers – desire for profit – the level of
demand and price will determine when and where the end of
coal (or more aptly, end of a mine) is near
• This therefore requires compeEEve and cheap forms of energy
supply
– including the incorpora>on of social costs and benefits
– However NB: Jevons Paradox
Are
these
assessed
fairly
and does
the
process
serve
the
common
good?

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• ABARE, mul>ple use
• In Liverpool Plains case there is
poten>ally no mul>ple and
sequen>al use where mining comes
first in the sequence
• Offsets, ECVM BUT…..
• Pollu>on of water table then soils
could irreversibly destroy ‘food
bowl’ of NSW and na>on
• In this sense mul>ple and sequen>al
use is a ‘non-sense’
• Similar to the PAC determina>on for
the Horse Racing and ViEculture
industries in the Hunter in rejec>ng
The Drayton South Project
• ‘CriEcal Industry Clusters’ and CSG
exclusion zones
Mul>ple and Sequen>al Use
Discussion
• TransiEoning to an improved state will required addi>ons
to our current ins>tu>ons and market economy
• Agricultural Impact Assessments – but are these enough?
• Where market and current ins>tu>ons have failed we have
used Protected Areas to conserve key pieces of nature and
culture:
– Marine and terrestrial protected areas
– Na>onal Parks
– World Heri>age Lis>ng
– RAMSAR wetlands
– Biosphere reserves
– Surfing reserves
– Wild Rivers etc.

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Discussion con>nued…
• Provides for zoning and controls on par>cular uses that ensure the
integral values of the ‘asset’ are maintained an not eroded or destroyed
• Why not where risks are too high ie ‘we’ are not willing to forgo the
chance of adversely and irreversibly impac>ng our prime agricultural land
and resources (water, social, economic, ins>tu>onal)?
• Agricultural Protected Areas (APAs) or Mining Exclusion Zones are a way
forward - based on criteria such as ‘compara>ve and compe>>ve
advantage’ for the long term:
– Natural features: ideal soils, water supplies, climate etc.
– Social features: established popula>ons and socie>es, culture
– Economic features:
• established supply chains, ins>tu>ons, networks,
• gene>c material,
• capital investments etc.
– Na>onal security features:
• food and water security;
• go beyond compara>ve and compe>>ve advantage
• becomes essen>al in >mes of war/disasters
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
• Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) are a way of managing
similar intractable resource extrac>on problems
• Just like Ag, mul>ple and sequen>al use can be a non-sense
when people, their health and culture are severely
compromised or annihilated
• ECVM is an avenue for compensa>on/capitalisa>on of losses
but in some cases mining has no place
• Ethics

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Conclusion
• When and where energy minerals run out, are determined
by local to global features
• To transform our regional and remote communi>es to
more sustainable futures, without forgoing the virtues of a
market or capitalist system, we need to control/eliminate
it’s adverse effects
• Protected Areas are an instrument that are currently used
to ‘save’ elements of our cultures or natural heritage that
we are not willing to forgo regardless of alterna>ve uses
• Agricultural Protected Areas provide an opportunity for
reform, to beUer align poli>cal interests with the common
good
References
• Jeavons, W. (1865) The Coal Ques(on; An Inquiry Concerning The Progress Of The Na(on, And The
Probable Exhaus(on Of Our Coal-mines, London: Macmillan. Accessed 21 June 2016 from:
hUp://www.econlib.org/library/YPDBooks/Jevons/jvnCQ0.html
• Marshall, A. (1878) ‘The Coal Ques>on’, Chapter X and XI in Thorpe, T.A. (Ed.) Coal: Its History and Uses,
MacMillian, London. Accessed 14 July 2015 from:
hUps://ia601403.us.archive.org/19/items/coalitshistoryus00thorrich/coalitshistoryus00thorrich.pdf