Dave Foster's article in favour of the Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) mine extension merits a response ('HVO proposal sets out supportive path through transition', NH 2/7). A fourth-generation resident, I grew up on the family farm west of Muswellbrook. In my early 30s I came home, worked with my father and raised my own family here. I taught science at local high schools for 20 years and currently live on the section of the property I inherited from my parents.
I have witnessed a complete transformation of the Upper Hunter. In my youth we had a mixed rural economy and a small but important coal mining sector.
