An open letter

Open Letter in Support of the Buller Plateaux Continuation Project (Stockton Mine)

Add your name below (it won't be published unless you want us to). You can add a comment if you wish to, which we can also share to make sure your voice and story is heard.

You can read some of the comments we have permission to share.

4,055 Signatures as at 4.03pm, 11 September 2026. Permission to share 1,358 comments. Comments total 53,544 words - we've surpassed The Great Gatsby and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy novels in volume of content. Signature count includes a total of 1,224 signatures collected on paper as at 4.20pm, 11 September 2026. Deduplication has been done to remove any double ups of online/paper sign ups. Paper sheets will continue to be tallied and added to the total count as we go.

Open letter to political representatives, decision makers, interested parties, media and our fellow New Zealand residents.

Our position is set out below.

Supporting the Buller Plateaux Continuation Project (Stockton Mine)

This is about more than coal. It is about our future.

We are members and supporters of the Buller and West Coast community who believe in the future of our District. We support the Buller Plateaux Continuation Project because of its profound importance for our people, our community, our infrastructure and our future.

We recognise that mining has environmental impacts and that people will hold different views about those impacts. Our support is not based on a belief that mining should proceed at any cost. Rather, we believe this particular project is profoundly important to the economic and social wellbeing of Buller, the wider West Coast and the people who call this place home.

We want the voices of those who support the continuation of Stockton Mine to be heard and taken into account.

We ask that the fast track approvals panel, any other decision makers, and the House of Representatives, support the Buller Plateaux Continuation Project proceeding through the Fast-Track Approvals process and recognise its significant economic and social importance to Buller, the wider West Coast and New Zealand. The reasons why:

For our peopleHundreds of Buller and West Coast families rely directly on the jobs and incomes created by the existing Stockton mine, with hundreds more supported by the wider economy that it creates.
For our local businessesStockton directly supports more than 125 businesses, with its economic contribution flowing through many more households and businesses across our district and region.
For our communitiesGood jobs keep people here and help keep our schools, sports clubs and community groups strong. The income and business activity generated by Stockton also gives local people and businesses the capacity to volunteer, sponsor, donate and support the organisations that make a strong community.
For our environmentStockton produces high-quality coal used for essential steelmaking, while its continued operations support the ongoing treatment of historic mining impacts, predator control and environmental programmes across the plateau. We believe responsible mining can sit alongside efforts to diversify our economy and build a stronger more resilient Buller and West Coast for future generations.
For our futureRecent industry closures have already cost our district jobs and reduced economic resilience. Buller and the West Coast communities have lived through major industry decline before including the 2013 Solid Energy collapse. We want to avoid the flow-on effects that reach far beyond lost jobs - affecting our population, businesses, property values, access to local services and the health and wellbeing of our people and families. We do not want to go backwards again.

We the undersigned record our support for the Buller Plateaux Continuation Project and ask that decision-makers take this community support into account.

Who we are, and why we’re doing this

We are coordinating and signing as residents in our own names. We are not funded or directed by Bathurst Resources or any other party.

Anyone who signs this letter is speaking for themselves. So are we.

Organisers are based in Buller, but we are simply coordinating support: This is for Buller, the wider West Coast and beyond.

Casey Scanlon
Garry Howard
Jessie Creedmore
Josh Reynolds
Steph Newburry
Tania Reynolds
Troy Scanlon

How your details will be used

This is an open letter. When you add your name, you are signing it.

Your name, town and connection to Buller and the West Coast will be provided to the decision makers this letter is addressed to. That may include the fast-track expert panel, government Ministers and Members of Parliament.

This applies whether you sign online or on a paper sheet. Both are held together as one signature list.

The full signature list may be provided to Parliament and to the fast-track expert panel so that the signatures can be verified if we are asked to prove them. That is why we ask for a real name and a working email address for every signature, and why we check for duplicates before we publish any number.

Your email address is never published, and it is not part of what we send to decision makers. We hold it so we can confirm signatures are genuine and contact you if you ask us to. If a decision maker asks us to prove the signatures are real, we may need to provide it.

We do not publish signatories' names on this website. Your signature is counted, and your name goes to the decision makers.

If you sign on behalf of a business and tell us on the form that we may contact your for further comment we may publish or share that perspective with your permission.

We may publish some of the comments people leave, but only where the person has given permission on the form, and only in the form they chose: with their name, or without it. We may share comments on our website, with media and decision makers.

Documents provided to Parliament or to a government agency can become part of a public record, or be released under the Official Information Act. We will ask that your details be treated in confidence. We cannot guarantee it.

Signatures are collected by Our Buller Future. Questions? .

Photo credits

View over Buller from the plateau — Buller Kawatiri image library, photo by Ali and Don Parish
Palmerston Street at sunset — Buller Kawatiri image library, Tess Row
Buller River bridge — Nomad Audio & Video
Palmerston Street, daytime — Nimmo Photography
Westport from the river — Nomad Audio & Video
Port of Westport — Nomad Audio & Video
Community event — Jules Anderson
Local business — Clint Trehan
Family walking — Clint Trehan
Welcome to Westport sign — Development West Coast
Cow on the quad bike — Buller Kawatiri Image Library, Lynda Webb
Skimming stones at the river — Buller Kawatiri Image Library, Wendy Brabet
Railway line below the ranges — Buller Kawatiri Image Library, Alison Parish Photography
On the plateau, looking down to the coast — Buller Kawatiri Image Library, Emma Oliver
Sunrise above the cloud from the tops — Buller Kawatiri Image Library, Craig Adams
Coaltown Museum, Westport — Clint Trehan

All photographs were sourced from the West Coast Image Library unless otherwise stated.

Contact us - note, this is not signing the letter and we can't use comments sent to us in this contact form. The correct form is above - that is where you show your support, sign the Open Letter.

Send us a message and one of the organisers will get back to you.