MORE than 130 individuals and groups were scheduled to address a two-day Planning Assessment Commission hearing on the T4 coal-loader, which started Tuesday in Newcastle.
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A draft schedule published last week says speakers, including companies and businesses, will be allocated five minutes each, and groups will be given 15 minutes.
Tuesday's hearing at Newcastle Panthers started at 1.30pm with the first registered speaker being Port Waratah Coal Services chief executive Hennie du Plooy.
PWCS is owned by a consortium of coal companies and their customers.
It owns and operates two of Newcastle's three existing coal-loaders.
Tuesday's hearing was scheduled to run into the evening, with the final 20 or so of the day's 51 listed speakers set to present after a 6.30pm dinner break.
The hearings resume at 8am on Wednesday, starting with eight speakers from the Hunter Community Environment Centre.
More than 50 speakers are scheduled for an afternoon session.
The NSW Department of Planning has recommended T4 be approved to handle 70 million tonnes of coal a year from two ship-loaders and three berths on Kooragang Island.