The final voids: the ambiguity of emptiness in Australian coal mine rehabilitation

In the Australian coal mining region of Hunter Valley, a political contest is taking shape around mine final voids, large holes that are left in ground after has finished. This article describes an effort led by lobby to fill voids with imaginative and hopeful futures, described as process techno-speculative deferral. contrast, local environmentalists (Indigenous non-Indigenous) drawing on dispossession ongoing extractivism craft affective politics loss these spaces. The considers particular issues metonyms Anthropocene order caution against approaches which celebrate hopefulness ruins. Instead, void's negativity presents alternative analytical starting point for Anthropocene, one derives from Indigenous expands counter ruination. Les derniers vides : l'ambiguïté du vide dans la réhabilitation des mines de charbon australiennes Résumé Dans région minière australienne une lutte politique est en train prendre forme autour définitifs mines, ces grands trous laissés le sol fois l'extraction terminée. Cet décrit les efforts menés par pour remplir grâce à visions futures imaginatives et pleines d'espoir, suivant processus d'ajournement techno-spéculatif. À l'inverse, écologistes locaux (autochtones non autochtones) s'appuient sur dépossession l'extractivisme actuel élaborer perte espaces. examine problèmes particuliers liés aux tant que métonymie l'anthropocène afin mettre garde contre approches célébrant l'espoir ruines. Au contraire, négativité présente un départ analytique alternatif qui dérive indigène s’étend contrer cours. ‘We might not agree when it going happen, but we can all eventually leave Upper Valley’. sentence was oft repeated government, industry, community meetings this region. Some desired immediate end concerned primarily coal's contribution climate change. Others worried shifting global policy increasing affordability renewable power meant would be behind economically; still others believed every gram mined earth before miners left. what deeply contested environment, sentence, Valley’, neutralized debate enabled conversation move forward residents began imagine future without either distant or near. increased concern over change significant shifted moral framing source development progress potential threat planetary future. For many Australians, economic prosperity, providing export revenue employment regional towns. Coal Australia's second largest value, approximately $AU70 million (approximately £40 million) (Australian Government Department Foreign Affairs Trade 2020: 5). At same time, other Australians growing increasingly about anthropogenic also divided contest, opportunities (Langton 2012) weighed ideas environmental stewardship (Merlan 2004). Nationally, serves material debates role changing world take shape. But localized. Valley became hub New South Wales's modern open-cut 1970s (Connor 2016). area annually produces 150 tons high-quality thermal – burned produce electricity feeds world's busiest terminal Newcastle, Australia (HVCCC n.d.). Although there often contestation how numbers figured spun, industry accounts 22.8 per cent entire Valley's gross product through employment, equipment purchases, charitable contributions (Lawrence Consulting 2020). Further, 14.2 directly employed mining, auxiliary supporting industries Bureau Statistics Owing discussion mining's impending exit region, much focused legacy, its lasting impact landscape. Most have approval termed ‘final voids’. Mine operations Mines rather than them in, even landscape been technically rehabilitated. To community, void permanent scar It reminder destruction taken land will replaced evocative terminology void’ makes too clear. leaving holes, most become lakes hence draws groundwater supplies potentially contaminating sources saline heavy metal seepage. hydrology geology absence, loss, ruin. Through acknowledgement emerging way out oppose further ruination (Stoler 2008). However, absence serve base potentiality, pro-coal encouraging presenting diversification. These speculative endeavours generate hope displace demands, despite their general infeasibility. Throughout ten months conducting participant observation, within group I came see represent more post-mining landscapes. metonym emptied characterize contemporary moment. merely metaphorical useful thinking metonymic. attribute names part. argues partial manifestation crisis our times, arguably Anthropocene. term proposed scientists Paul Crutzen Eugene Stoermer (2000) designation new epoch where human activity impacted at such scale geologically significant. Anthropogenic burning fossil fuels major contributor, only part impact, includes nuclear contamination, biodiversity, erosion deforestation, destruction. concept up social sciences, re-energizing beyond society-and-nature divide (Latour 2017). foundations modernity separation humans nature seem false, progressive developmental institutions built false foundation crumbling (Tsing 2015). core differentially distributed precarity revolves ambiguity unknown future, confronts us. ecological crisis, multiply layered experienced simultaneously broader socioeconomic insecurity. miners, labour comes uncertain working conditions declining threaten livelihoods, fact very they extract threatens (Weston 2012). dual concerns (environment labour) must incorporated into theorization work tandem reproduce imagination always attempts capitalist futures. questions debated those asking Anthropocene: do lament lost past promised, look alternatives may arise ruined present? Where find outside progress, imagined maintain allegiance modernity? suggested come multispecies vitality ruin itself, scholarly interest ruins 2015; Tsing, Bubandt, Gan & Swanson 2017) ‘blasted landscapes’ (Kirksey, Shapiro Brodine 2013) particular, Tsing's matsutake mushroom approached landscapes sites flourishing. She mushroom's ability thrive human-disturbed freedom liveliness ‘the collective home’ 2015: 3). There work, approach cautiously, central refusal accept complete. Rather, show partial, thus resist insist repair. issue posthumanist They tendency direct attention inevitable becoming prematurely celebrates ruin's potentiality (Fitz-Henry words, boundary event (Haraway 2016), distinct moment time. Implied awareness enough us begin it, if some grand awakening (Bonneuil Fressoz We course need think pay continued workings entrap (Bauer Ellis 2018; Bessire Bond 2014; Bonneuil Power both voided with. Can radically different acknowledge historical wrought colonialism partner (Quijano 2007), shall continue caged imaginations perpetuate ruination? argue kind arises precisely traps distracts reckoning moving modernity/coloniality's Seeing materially real soon discuss detail, metonymic expression contingent open reminds assume apocalypse transcendence (Braun, Coleman, Thomas Yusoff implores continuously made restoration deferred. first describe technical details necessary understanding complex interplay geological limits potential. actively involved using anxieties deferral, portraying full imaginings. then how, attempts, represents, labelled neologism ‘solastalgia’ (Albrecht 2005). Drawing relationships dispossession, counters deferral lobby. Finally, conclusion, broadened reflect cautions reconsider emptiness, critically desire empty currently approved plans least forty-five total 6,050 hectares state Wales. greater Sydney Harbour (Walters understand presence politically, grasp basics process. seam layer runs largely parallel surface, though slight incline. Thus get (the seam), blast rock above seam, remove it. mix soil blasted removed reach called overburden. overburden piled exposed (Fig. 1). generally starts closest surface moves angles down deeper. being pushed advancing front, filling previous created. no longer economically viable, so deep cost removing higher value underneath, ends. deepest point, stops. leaves gap backfill previously void, void. design mine, crafted optimizing profitability account minimizing sinks. life sink groundwater, because deeper level. Evaporation relatively slow first, forming lake smaller. Eventually, precipitation further, water level rise expand, reaching equilibrium inflows equal evaporative losses. Reaching long Liddell estimate fifty years; Drayton 200 whereas Mount Thorley Warkworth 800 years 2016: 10). Over pit saline, evaporation continues contribute salts and, cases, metals. Because majority act sinks, decrease pressure draw aquifers driest inhabited continent. sinks deemed preferable allowing flow seepage, contaminates supply lakes. Mapping metals, leachate, predicting temperatures rainfall predictions, vast timescale extremely difficult, two exactly same. stability landform question until hydrological reached, areas unlikely accessible public years. already voids. Changing plan retrospect backfilling expensive doing required regulators. Despite legal allowance, reputational problem industry; terminology, ‘legacy issue’. closure globally, prominence Australia, large-scale were founded 1970s, facing lives coming decades (Bainton Holcombe 2018). importance phenomenon, academic literature focuses technical, physical mechanism stabilization. limited aspects shows, far engineering feat. socially surrounding communities 2018) diverse emotional impacts (Pini, Mayes McDonald 2010) implications prospects (Halvaksz 2008), outsized Aboriginal (O'Faircheallaigh Lawrence 2019). context Social Aspects Closure Research Consortium Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) University Queensland. SMI collaboration partially funded industry. Important engaged possibly influence practitioners encourage serious engagement accompany Cohen 2017; Owen Kemp takes perspective existing literature. critical by, directed towards. Thus, my analysis connects theoretical ruins, rubble, learned early research licence arm Australia. 2017, conducted observation lobby's outreach arm, refer here Community Conference, CCC.11 chosen use pseudonym organization article. pseudonyms participants. name speaking forums capacity. article, hearing expansion Ph.D. student her findings. When CCC organization, welcoming gave me nearly complete access meetings. clear researcher, blended everyday group. year, informants colleagues friends, felt comfortable productive. Occasionally, events remarks reminded complexities complicity lobbyists, revealing friends considered ‘vile informants’ (Marcus 1997). Nonetheless, anthropologists shy away disagree (Mazzarella 2019: 46), operates maintains (Dahlgren 2021). particularly evident relation frustration lobbyist informants, Sam. As head CCC, Sam proud his compromise finding outcomes could satisfy community. demand frustrating him not, eyes, financially afford meet. revealed contradictions between CCC's goal dialogue funder's, organization's, priorities profitability. mentioned, rehabilitation key topic scientific research, geology, hydrology, science. One agenda Tom Farrell Institute. attended 2017 annual conference sponsor. held upstairs function room pub. sat next each watched several presentations quality issues, acid drainage, monitoring. shared glances unspoken heads. speaker stepped podium. Penny Dunstan Ph.D, Fine Arts presented argument drew in. case Pointy Flatty, ironically titled ‘Cornish Alps’, which, heaped leftovers kaolin Cornwall, United Kingdom, actually mountains. had important landscape, something people attached. image ‘mountains’ used primary school logo. talk flattening heaps back originally flat organized protect save (Dunstan looked eyes wide excited grin face, he whispered, ‘That's voids: make want them’. this, recognized negative emotions tend evoke saw opportunity channel sense attachment. articulation attempting last few response concerns: reveals recognition struggle emotion attachment issue. surprise ‘people's hopes desires self passion things ought bound hard stuff achievements … [such as] infrastructures’ (Jasanoff 22), resource extraction imbued affects (Weszkalnys noteworthy explicitly recognized, cultivated, An emic imaginaries sociotechnical, seems, arisen opportunity. concerted project Valley. attempt workshop members gathered Part larger, ‘Community Day’ arts centre, twenty-five invited participants five tables. industry-funded hydrologist presentation outlined basic like earlier. wet scientist explained balance quality, including salinity After information, moved put unexpected ways. showed pictures dry film sets, amphitheatres, sporting grounds Czech Republic horse racing track, motor eighteen-hole golf course. example shining Intercontinental Shimao Wonderland, hotel Shanghai. nineteen-storey inside water-filled quarry, seventeen nineteen floors underground descending pit. hosts number extreme sports, climbing bungee jumping off quarry sports lake. aquarium underwater floors. real-world examples alongside predictions impossible, realizable centuries, carefully achieved backers. parts indirectly prove feasibility projects anxiety turn excitement vibrant science moments earlier, disproved plans, require Underground enigmatic, Sally Babidge (2019) identifies crucial industry's ‘sustain ignorance’ Salar Atacama. Therefore, disproven presentation. case, enigma powerful insofar paired cultivated imaginations. example, hydrologist, asked vote uses favoured. ‘preliminary list uses’ affixing brightly coloured dot sticker ‘top three’ options. options included recreation, entertainment, hydropower/alternative energy, tourism. specific theme park, bike trials, climbing/abseiling, course, set, floating village, surf park (Golder Associates scope mentioned larger world, concentrations, hundreds released public's practical realization highly questionable. does matter voids’ maintained ‘potential uses’. so-called ‘re-purposing’ garnered books 101 hole (Pearman 2009) published Eden Project, educational non-profit artificial biome former Cornwall. develop similar repurposing disused Anglesea Victoria, possibility environments am disputing; demands unfeasible touts Their temporality hopeful, yet unrealizable, utilized defer reality spatial temporal land's alteration. Scholarly temporalities emphasized processes inherently connected spatiality reveal extractive pasts, presents, configurations (D'Angelo Pjipers Ferry Limbert Of resonance Gisa Weszkaklnys's Sao Tome e Principe, where, never materializing, oil discovery assemblage legal, scientific, commercial techniques (2015: 612). Weszkalnys (2016) emphasizes affect sustaining assemblages, forms ‘doubtful hope’. reversed, (as Valley), another purpose. continuity affluent living midst emphasize elements discourse post-mining, support securing mine-expansions approvals, opposed short-term benefits long-term costs. t