Dunoon declaring itself CSG-free
DUNOON is the latest Northern Rivers community to declare itself CSG- free.
Residents from the village yesterday united to make it official, handing over 15 paper scrolls to Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell.
Each of the scrolls contained a "road declaration" - a symbolic declaration from residents on and every one of Dunoon's roads, that coal seam gas exploration and mining is not welcome there.
Dunoon is now one of several communities that have declared themselves or are in the process of declaring themselves CSG-free. Others include The Channon, Modanville, Whian Whian, Rosebank and Numulgi.
Cr Dowell said her office was beginning to fill with road declaration scrolls - a sign of the growing strength of the anti-CSG movement.
And while largely symbolic, the declarations were important.
"It's taking away any social licence to explore and drill in this area," she said.
Despite the cold and wet weather a good portion of Dunoon's population turned out to yesterday's rally, with more than 70 people marching from the Community Hall to the Sports Club and joining in the afternoon get-together and fundraiser.
The crowd was diverse, with elders of the village joining young families and school children.
The event was the culmination of an anti-CSG community awareness campaign in the Dunoon area, which found that 98.5% of the 300 residents surveyed were opposed to coal seam gas mining.
Co-ordinator of yesterday's event, Melanie Wells, said it was just the beginning of the battle.
"This is just the first step. There's a whole journey ahead of us," she said.
