Years after a group of New South Wales farmers won the so-called "Battle of Bylong" in the courts, residents say the town's future is still in doubt. A South Korean energy company is trying to renew its mining exploration licence and locals say they're being kept in the dark.
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00:00Welcome to the Bylong Valley, home to some of NSW's most fertile land and a most frustrating
00:10land dispute.
00:14There's certainly an unknown because about half of the valley is owned by something that's
00:21owned by the Korean government.
00:23But something is energy giant Kepco, which spent $700 million acquiring 13,000 hectares
00:30of land here.
00:32This is Bylong's local general store.
00:35It's one of the many properties Kepco bought when it wanted to open the coal mine.
00:40The company agreed to keep it up and running for the community here.
00:44However, it's been closed since 2021 and there's no signs of it reopening soon.
00:50The local school is boarded up.
00:52There are no students left to fill the classroom.
00:56This church, sold to Kepco, is slowly crumbling.
01:00And the mouse races that once drew in tourists no longer run.
01:06It's hard to plan for the future of your community if literally the biggest landowner in your
01:13valley refuses to talk to the community and share information about what their plans are
01:19for this place in future.
01:22Kepco's land is currently leased to a grazing company.
01:26Its plans for a coal mine were officially rejected years ago, with multiple appeals
01:31knocked back on environmental grounds.
01:34But the company recently applied to renew its two coal-specific mining exploration licences,
01:40a request that's currently being assessed by the NSW government.
01:45It says the environment, landholder rights and community consultation will all be taken
01:51into account.
01:53But the four relevant ministers we contacted declined to elaborate further.
01:58Activists are calling on the government to overhaul planning rules, arguing they favour
02:03mining companies over landholders.
02:06There is no need to be exploring for new coal.
02:09It's crazy that there's any policy supporting that.
02:12Korean media reports suggest another possibility, a solar power plant.
02:17There's very limited space here for solar because it's quite undulating.
02:22You need a lot of vast areas of level ground and connected to the big grid.
02:28Kepco has refused to provide any information about its plans for the Bailong Valley.
02:34The ABC contacted its Sydney office multiple times, as well as its head office in South
02:40Korea.
02:41The company refused an interview and did not answer any of our detailed questions.
02:47The locals here say that's no surprise.
02:49They say they've been kept in the dark for years.
02:52They haven't been there us and they wouldn't tell you anyway, you know, they tell you nothing.
02:59Landholders still believe Bailong could be rejuvenated if Kepco is willing to sell or
03:05work with other investors.
03:08They could turn it into a model, you know, that the rest of the world could look upon
03:13and go, this is how you do regenerative agriculture.
03:16They've got a great opportunity to turn it into something fabulous.
03:19A decision on the lease renewal is expected shortly.