A proposed new power station in the Hunter region of NSW will not necessarily have a negative impact on the health of locals, the state health minister says.
The NSW government approved concept plans on Wednesday for additional baseload stations near existing coal-fired facilities at Muswellbrook in the upper Hunter and Lithgow, west of Sydney.
Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt said the Department of Environment and Climate Change would establish a dust monitoring network in the upper Hunter, to look at whether the community was negatively impacted by dust.
"Data is inconclusive as to whether the upper Hunter has higher rates of respiratory illness than other areas of NSW," she said.
"It's not conclusive."
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Greenpeace activists have protested at the move because they say it gives a green light to coal power, at the expense of renewable energy sources.
But Ms Tebbutt says this will not necessarily be the case.
"My understanding is that ... project applications still need to be lodged for any new power stations and that would include covering the fuel source," she told ABC radio on Thursday.
"We've always said that we're fuel source-neutral, so these may well be gas or coal fired power stations."
However, the NSW Greens say coal will be chosen because the new plants will be built near existing coal-fired power stations and there is no infrastructure for supplying gas.
