Down the gas pipeline

As the list of local councils, community groups and individuals calling for a moratorium on coal seam gas mining grows, one local council sticks out like a gas well on an open landscape: Richmond Valley.

When a reader rang me to ask if I knew if Cr Donella Kinnish hadn’t been able to get a seconder to debate a motion asking for Rous Water to be able to comment on development regarding CSG, I was so appalled I could barely speak (strange for me).

Rous had written to all councils, saying they had concerns about ground water and asking to be informed of new applications. This seemingly sensible course of action wasn’t even considered by Richmond Valley.

If Council is so far down the gas pipe that they will not even consider that the local water authority might have legitimate information then residents should be more than concerned, they should be outraged.

This is water we’re talking about here, the stuff that sustains life.

Mayor Col Sullivan and Deputy Mayor Stuart George ought to be called to task for not respecting requests from an organisation where they are both councillors.

I don’t care if they disagreed with the decision by Rous; they still have a moral obligation to listen. And they have a moral obligation to put information out to the public, not gag debate by being so scared of offending gas companies that they won’t even second a motion.

Councillors second motions all the time so that the person moving it can have a say; it’s called democracy.

Those of us who live in Richmond Valley should be angry that our councillors (apart from Cr Kinnish) seem prepared to sell us out for the mighty dollar.

If Richmond Valley’s priorities put investment in gas mining ahead of water, we are really in trouble. Council should be aware that their biggest industry, agriculture, has concerns about CSG. The NSW Farmers Association is not asking to comment on proposed developments; they’re calling for a moratorium.