Gas

It's just about impossible to watch a commercial TV channel anywhere in Australia without being assaulted by slick mining company ads telling us how good they supposedly are for the community. Incredible amounts of money are being spent on these brainwashing campaigns. One set of these advertisements more specifically targets communities that are resisting the onslaught of the coal seam gas (CSG) miners, particularly in precious water catchment areas and prime food producing regions. These ads are often more targeted in their messaging, but they have been caught out lying.

The Wilderness Society Newcastle released the statement below on November 28. *** Concerned residents packed Newcastle City Chambers [on November 27] and faced a heavy police presence at a meeting where coal seam gas drillers Dart Energy presented their case to Newcastle City Council. "Tonight’s Newcastle Council meeting saw a shaky performance by coal seam gas drillers Dart Energy, under the pressure of local community members who filled the council chambers to show their concern," said Naomi Hogan of the Wilderness Society Newcastle.

Groups campaigning to stop the roll out of coal seam gas (CSG) mining have slammed federal resources minister Martin Ferguson for his attack on two Southern Cross University scientists who released results of their research into the CSG industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The Western Australian government granted final approval to the Woodside gas hub at James Price Point, near Broome on November 19. The statement below was released by the Broome Community No Gas Campaign on November 19. *** Over 200 people gathered on Cable Beach on November 18 and unfurled a banner calling for governments at all levels to “Protect the Kimberley”. The banner came from the John Butler Concert for the Kimberley held recently at Federation Square, Melbourne.

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW released the statement below on November 14. * * * Revelations about the high levels of methane leakage from the Tara Estate coal seam gasfield in Queensland cast serious doubts on claims the industry’s greenhouse impact is relatively benign, according to the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.

The statement below was released on November 5 by community groups that took part in a protest outside the NSW government’s Community Cabinet meeting in Tamworth. * * * Residents of north-west NSW have united in numbers outside the NSW Community Cabinet being held in Tamworth to expose the Barry O'Farrell government’s broken promises on protecting farmland, water catchments and sensitive environments from coal and gas mining.

Organisers of the Groundswell Gloucester conference released the statement below on October 29. * * * More than 100 delegates from coal and coal seam gas (CSG) affected communities across NSW have called “Groundswell Gloucester”, the inaugural NSW Coal and CSG Community Conference, a resounding success. Delegates represented groups from as far afield as the Northern Rivers, the Liverpool Plains, the Hunter Valley, metropolitan Sydney and the NSW Southern Highlands.

The threat facing Western Australia’s Kimberley region received national attention on October 5 when 10,000 people attended a concert for the Kimberley in Melbourne’s Federation Square.

Stop Pilliga Coal Seam Gas released the statement below on October 24 about a new report prepared for the Northern Inland Council for the Environment and the Coonabarabran and Upper Castlereagh Catchment and Landcare Group. * * * A new ecological study of the Pilliga Forest in north-west NSW has found it is a “Noah's Ark” or refuge for many bird and mammal species that are declining across Australia.

In a startling but not unexpected backflip, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman gave the green light to uranium mining on October 22, lifting a decades-long ban on the destructive industry.

Stop CSG Illawarra released the statement below on October 21. * * * Just over 3000 people rallied in the Illawarra on October 21 to spell out: "Protect H20, Stop CSG!". Following a slew of broken promises by the state government last month, and a failure to rule out CSG development in drinking water catchments, people across the Illawarra came out in force once again. Stop CSG Illawarra spokesperson Jess Moore said: "It's astonishing that the community is having to fight the state government to protect our water supply.

Under the banner of the Lock the Gate Alliance, about 100 demonstrators assembled outside Brisbane’s Convention Centre for the Queensland Gas Conference and exhibition on October 9 to protest their exclusion from the Australian Petroleum and Production Association’s (APPEA) inaugural Coal Seam Gas (CSG) Conference and Exhibition. Lock the Gate formally requested that its observers be permitted entry to the conference seminars concerning “social licence to operate”.