The environment department suggests wood smoke might have caused a spike in airborne pollution in Moranbah in August, but locals say nearby coal mines are the more likely culprit.
The Moranbah monitoring station was established in 2011 to record the impact of coal mines — there are now more than 25 of them.
Documents that a major NSW coal company fought to keep secret reveal a litany of environmental breaches. "But if it's just from local sources, we're not able to say 'so much came from a mine' or 'so much came from bare ground' or 'so much came from some other activity in the area'." Mr Last said while he was glad a PM2.5 monitor had been installed he still wanted chemical analysis to be conducted.
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