Five weeks into his role as deputy director general at the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, Greg Sullivan took to the skies yesterday to witness the impact of mining and industry in the region.

"I was struck by the scale of the operations with open-cut mining," he said.

"It is not until you are above them that you get a proper understanding."

"It was obvious from a brief flight that there are some pretty significant environmental challenges in the area, which has a strong concentration of industry as well as things like agriculture and residential."

Armed with the challenge of encouraging and enforcing compliance with environmental licences and standards, Mr Sullivan identified the Hunter as a top priority.

"I have trips planned to all parts of the state . . . but I was keen to come to the Hunter Region because it was one of the priorities raised to me for a number of reasons - population increases, a historic concentration of industry, major transport infrastructure projects and of course, the major mining operations," he said.

The mining industry's impact on the Hunter had highlighted the need for the state government's proposed new air quality monitoring network to assess the impacts of dust in the region, Mr Sullivan said.

The first two stations under the new monitoring system are expected to be in place by the end of the year, with the remainder of the stations rolled out by June 2011.