If the mine is approved it will represent a policy failure, he said. The environmental impact statement for the proposed coal mine has been put on public exhibition until April 26.

The Strategic Regional Land Use Policy failed to rule out critical areas from mining or gas, instead implementing a gateway process in which the gate cannot be shut, Buckingham said.

“We will now see whether the policy has the teeth the government has promised,” he said.

"Coal mining on the Liverpool Plains does not have a social licence. If the Strategic Regional Land Use Policy fails to reject this project, then I'm sure the community will step in to protect their land and water through locking their gates and implementing community blockades."

Buckingham said the black soils of the Liverpool Plains and the underlying aquifers were too precious to put at risk.

“It's just common sense that digging a huge open cut coal mine in the middle of a critical food and fibre-producing area is a bad idea," he said.

"The government says that the Shenhua Watermark project will undergo ‘unprecedented scrutiny’, but the real question is whether the policy actually has the power to protect productive agricultural land by stopping a bad mine in the wrong area.”

The Department of Planning and Infrastructure required the Shenhua Watermark Environmental Impact Statement to specifically consider potential impacts on soil capability and agriculture, as well as impacts on water resources, biodiversity, heritage, air quality, noise, traffic and visual amenity.

Paul Jackson, project manager for Shenhua Watermark, believes the 3000-plus page EIS is one of the most thorough and rigorous assessments undertaken in NSW.

“We have invested considerable resources and time to ensure the project is compatible with the environmental values of the area, and the proposal now on display has been refined following extensive discussion and input from the local community, scientific experts and government agencies,” he said.

“This mine plan allows the national, regional and local benefits of coal mining to be unlocked while ensuring strict environmental management measures are in place to preserve the local environment.”