About 300 people turned out for a free outdoor film screening of the award-winning US documentary Gasland in Sydney Park on February 5.
The screening was supported by the City of Sydney and Palace Cinemas, and was organised by Sydney Residents Against Coal Seam Gas, a community group established to oppose plans for exploratory gas drilling in the inner-west suburb of St Peters.
The film was introduced by Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne, who said: “This movie is a great opportunity for us in the inner-west to see the US example of what can happen. We don’t want it here. We can stop it. It’s going to take a lot of community and grassroots campaigning.”
Before the screening, members of the local community enjoyed a barbecue picnic and shared information about the campaign to stop gas drilling.
Gas mining company Apollo Energy has been granted a licence that allows exploratory drilling in most of the greater Sydney region. Critics say the NSW government granted the licence with no public consultation.
Speaking at a screening of Gasland during the 2010 Sydney Film Festival, City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the film “examin[ed] the darker side of the natural gas boom” and that the film “reminds us of the importance of stewardship of the land, rather than continual exploitation”.
However, the City of Sydney's plan for a sustainable energy future is to use a method of energy production known as trigeneration, with a view to have 70% of the city’s electricity generated this way by 2030.
Trigeneration burns natural gas, a fossil fuel consisting primarily of potent greenhouse gas methane, to produce energy.