Tweed Coast and Valley communities are hearing about issues related to Coal Seam Gas industry at Community Meetings run by Lock the Gate – Tweed.
The meetings follow a community meeting at Bilambil on July 3, where attendees voted unanimously to endorse the proposition that their community should be CSG-free. This makes Bilambil the fourth community in Tweed Shire to take up the CSG-free Communities initiative.
Michael McNamara from Lock the Gate – Tweed said that, in the almost 20 communities across the Northern Rivers that had declared themselves CSG-free, the level of support for the declaration was running at more than 96 per cent.
“Recent declarations of other Northern Rivers communities as CSG-free, including Tyalgum in the west of the Tweed Valley, are backed up by hard data,” he said.
Communities that have already taken up the initiative include Tyalgum, Crystal Creek, Bilambil and the Upper Tweed, including Doon Doon, Kunghur and Mt Burrell.
Mr McNamara said that coastal communities had, for a long time, believed they were not affected by the Coal Seam Gas industry and this belief still holds sway in many quartres.
“This is definitely not true,” he said. “Coastal and other urban communities will feel the impacts in terms of water supply and water quality, potential health impacts and dropping land values.
“Clarrie Hall Dam, the main water supply for the Tweed, is within the boundaries of an exploration licence for coal seam gas.
“Arrow Energy, which holds the licence (PEL 445), could, if it so desired, drill in the catchment of Clarrie Hall Dam (as AGL has near Warragamba Dam in Sydney) thereby placing the supply of clean drinking water to all Tweed communities at risk.
“A recent application for a Special Prospecting Authority covering the rest of the Tweed Shire should ring alarm bells in people’s minds.
“If this Prospecting Authority is granted and commercial reserves of coal seam gas or other unconventional gases are discovered, then drilling is the next step.
“The Queensland Government is currently undertaking investigations into reports from doctors in areas where CSG drilling operates about significant occurrences among residents of symptoms consistent with gas exposure.”
Lock the Gate – Tweed has started holding meetings in the Tweed area to give local residents the opportunity to be well informed about the risks and impacts associated with the industry.
A meeting was held on Wednesday evening in Kingscliff, with another planned tonight, July 12, at the Pottsville Community Hall. Next week meetings are planned for the Chillingham Community Hall on Tuesday, July 17, Burringbar Sports Club on Tuesday, July 24, and at Stokers SidingCommunity Hall on Thursday, July 26.All meetings start at 7pm.
“I invite anyone interested in getting involved in the CSG-free Communities initiative, or just finding out more about the impact of the Coal Seam Gas industry on Tweed Valley communities, to contact me on 6679 3013 or by email at lockthegate.tweed@gmail.com,” Mr McNamara said.
