This letter was read out to 300 people who rallied in Campbelltown, NSW on March 17 to protest against coal seam gas (CSG) expansion in the area.
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Good afternoon all. My name is Debbi Orr and I live in the Tara Estates — a gas field in Queensland.
Since CSG invaded our area, all of my six children have become sick. Headaches, nosebleeds, burning itchy eyes are a regular — sometimes daily — occurrence in our house.
The nearest gas well to our home is about one kilometre away. Gas companies like to say they don’t take up much space, but they don’t like to mention all the pipes and other infrastructure that goes with that gas well.
When they drill a well, the noise is unbearable. When you can hear a drill rig, at least three kilometres away, inside your home, above all your kids being extremely loud and the TV noise, it is bad.
My neighbour’s walls are cracked, my dam cracked and drained. I am about 15 kilometres away from the Kenya Compressor station.
At times we hear it. An unbearable droning noise that goes on and on and on when you’re trying to sleep. It gets into your head and drives you crazy. When the wind is blowing from the direction of the Kenya compressor station, the symptoms are much worse.
I know of 26 other families who are experiencing the same thing, and the distance from gas wells and other infrastructure varies.
There is nothing good about CSG — except the friends you make opposing it.
There is nothing safe about CSG. The government is so convinced it is safe, they will not even put it in writing, nor will any CSG company.
A two kilometre exclusion zone will not protect you from CSG. Lock your gate, lock your street, lock your community.
Say no to CSG. Once the damage is done, it cannot be undone.