Alliance formed to fight CSG

Mobilising thousands of people is the only way to stop coal seam gas exploration and production in the Northern Rivers according to a new alliance of 10 local groups who are mounting a united campaign against the burgeoning industry.

Boudicca Cerese from the Kyogle Group Against Gas said environment, community and farmer groups from the Clarence to the Tweed gathered in Lismore over the weekend to begin planning a multi-pronged approach to stop coal seam gas (CSG) in its tracks.

Boudicca said small groups working against mining companies with big bucks found the challenge daunting and together they could more effectively push for a CSG ban.

“We can bring to bear the power of thousands of people rather than tens or hundreds, whether that’s through actions, events, pushing for law reform, email campaigns, letter writing, or through lobbying of MPs,” she said. “It was really positive and enthusiastic, and empowering to see we can work together… I think it’s crucial that we do. To combat the threats we need to unite groups across all parts of society, from farmers to environmentalists to community groups, industry groups, everyone.”

Boudicca said the alliance discussed what they see as the major threats to the region including the Metgasco power station and gas field at Casino; the proposed gas pipeline through the Border Ranges near Kyogle; the proposed floating LNG export facility at Ballina; the Arrow Energy exploration wells in valleys around Lismore; the Red Sky Energy exploration around Whiporie and Tullymorgan; and the Macquarie Energy application for exploration in the Tweed Valley.

The groups will work together under the banner of Lock The Gate Alliance and have agreed to meet again in August to further develop the joint campaign.

“We’ll be looking at state and federal planning and legislation. At the moment the NSW Government is doing strategic regional land use planning and we want to be a part of that process,” she said. “At a federal level you have things like the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation legislation, and the pipeline through the Border Ranges is being assessed by that legislation. We will be making submission about how the pipeline impacts that World Heritage area.”

Boudicca said continuing to raise public awareness was also paramount if any fight against the CSG industry were to succeed.

“While CSG has been in the media a lot, there are many people out there who still don’t know the full impacts of the industry,” she said. “Mobilising a massive social movement is the only way we can stop this – governments will have to listen.”

She said while many threats have plagued the region over the years – from logging in old growth forests to the Byrill Creek Dam proposal – these issues still remained somewhat localised. Without dismissing the importance of such issues, Boudicca said the comparison was frightening because CSG mining was not just environmental – it would affect the area’s food production, water quality, biodiversity, health, livelihoods and amenity. She said the scale of the problems associated with the industry had the potential to affect all aspects of community life.

“If you’ve looked at maps of exploration licences these (CSG) licences cover nearly the whole Northern Rivers, a vast region,” she said. “If coal seam gas goes any further this will be one of the biggest things the Northern Rivers has ever had to contend with.”

The groups will also co-ordinate for a National Day of Action against coal seam gas organised by the Lock The Gate Alliance for October 16 to mark the start of National Water Week.