{"title":"Coal dust pollution in regional Australian coal mining towns: Social License to Operate and community resistance","authors":"Laura Cattonar, Jungho Suh, Melissa Nursey-Bray","doi":"10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104008","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The mining industry’s generation of environmental risks has galvanised increasing social upheaval worldwide, leading to its Social License to Operate being called into question. The coal mining industry is no exception. Nonetheless, the industry remains a crucial supporter of many regional Australian economies, providing communities with employment opportunities and vital amenities. However, this support comes at the expense of direct exposure to particulate matter emissions or ‘coal dust’, a pollutant known for its adverse long-term health outcomes. Thus, communities are dealt an intriguing social dilemma: ‘Do you bite the hand that feeds you?’ This paper explores how Singleton and Clermont, regional Australian coal mining towns in New South Wales and Queensland, respectively, have exemplified such a phenomenon. Based on 34 thematically analysed semi-structured interviews, this paper develops its argument that the Social License to Operate, as a metric for community acceptance and approval, may be rendered useless when communities are economically dependent on coal mining. This paper aims to ultimately shed light on the factors affecting the Social License to Operate using regional Australian perspectives, highlighting the malleability of community acceptance.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":12497,"journal":{"name":"Geoforum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718524000691/pdfft?md5=69c1c2059beaed37206c3f5830e8dca9&pid=1-s2.0-S0016718524000691-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Geoforum","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718524000691","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The mining industry’s generation of environmental risks has galvanised increasing social upheaval worldwide, leading to its Social License to Operate being called into question. The coal mining industry is no exception. Nonetheless, the industry remains a crucial supporter of many regional Australian economies, providing communities with employment opportunities and vital amenities. However, this support comes at the expense of direct exposure to particulate matter emissions or ‘coal dust’, a pollutant known for its adverse long-term health outcomes. Thus, communities are dealt an intriguing social dilemma: ‘Do you bite the hand that feeds you?’ This paper explores how Singleton and Clermont, regional Australian coal mining towns in New South Wales and Queensland, respectively, have exemplified such a phenomenon. Based on 34 thematically analysed semi-structured interviews, this paper develops its argument that the Social License to Operate, as a metric for community acceptance and approval, may be rendered useless when communities are economically dependent on coal mining. This paper aims to ultimately shed light on the factors affecting the Social License to Operate using regional Australian perspectives, highlighting the malleability of community acceptance.
期刊介绍:
Geoforum is an international, inter-disciplinary journal, global in outlook, and integrative in approach. The broad focus of Geoforum is the organisation of economic, political, social and environmental systems through space and over time. Areas of study range from the analysis of the global political economy and environment, through national systems of regulation and governance, to urban and regional development, local economic and urban planning and resources management. The journal also includes a Critical Review section which features critical assessments of research in all the above areas.