Gloucester Coal has been granted approval to increase production at its Stratford and Duralie mines, with the life of the latter extended by nine years to extract an extra 20 million tonnes of coal.

(Lucas Energy is also seeking to drill up to 90 wells for coal seam gas.)

The increasing visual impact of mining near their homes, and reports suggesting Upper Hunter children are more likely to suffer respiratory problems, has prompted a group of local mums to lobby for their neck of the woods to be included in Upper Hunter air monitoring.

Wendy Fraser, “Glenrowan”, a marine biologist, returned home with her husband, Michael, and son, Andrew, to run the family farm when her father became ill four years ago, and now runs 180 cows on 210 hectares.

They don’t regret the move – but are increasingly worried about their environment.

“We’re all busy, on the farm and with the kids, and barely have time to read the paper, let alone write letters and lobby, so a few of us decided to campaign together,” Mrs Fraser said.

While mines must have PM10 monitors to measure larger particles, there is rising concern about evidence much smaller PM2.5 particles can lodge deep in the lungs.

“The fear, worry and concern in the community is obvious – a lot of it might be unwarranted, but we just don’t know,” Mrs Fraser said.

“Monitoring could put our minds at ease. But if there is a problem, we need to know about it.

“If our children are more susceptible to asthma, we can’t just take them away. If there is a problem with PM2.5 particles, we need to know where it’s coming from to do something about it.”

The group aims to raise funds to set up independent monitoring of air and water quality if the State Government won’t extend the network to their area.

“We want baseline data to use as a point of reference,” Mrs Fraser said.

The air quality monitoring network was set up last year after a flurry of reports suggesting Upper Hunter residents had higher than average respiratory and cardiovascular problems.

Two monitors, at Muswellbrook and Singleton, went live last month, but only three of a planned 14 monitors will measure fine dust (PM2.5) particles.