Acommunity group in Armidale says it’s found a major application for Special Petroleum Prospecting over much of the Northern Tablelands including Walcha.
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The application made by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council covers an area that reaches from the border near Tenterfield, down to Glen Innes, Armidale, Walcha and to the mid-north coast.
“We were alarmed to discover last week that an application for coal seam gas ‘prospecting’ has been submitted across a vast area including the New England Tablelands and including towns such as Armidale and Walcha,” said Carmel Flint, spokesperson for Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas (AACSG) and a regional co-ordinator with Lock The Gate Alliance.
The group and said the government needs to be out in front letting the community know about these plans rather than letting people stumbling across them on a website.
“There is some suggestion there might be a joint venture partner, but we don’t know who that is, but we thoroughly respect the rights of NSW Land Council to pursue whatever economic activities in the interests of its members, our argument is clearly with the NSW Government.
“We don’t think it is appropriate for them to be issuing licenses of this extraordinary scale.”
The NSW Upper House is currently debating a private member bill for a moratorium on coal seam gas mining across
NSW.
“This application may be the beginning of a process which leads to exploration and mining of coal seam gas across
our region, and in light of that we are encouraging all political parties to support the coal seam gas moratorium in Parliament,” said Ms Flint.
The CEO of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Geoff Scott told the ABC last week that this is a strategy by the Land Council to get some economic gain and benefit from the community.
He has confirmed the application will be prospecting for oil and gas, but also said issues of environment and cultural heritage are paramount in their minds.
The AACSG has now moved to organise a number of events to rapidly inform the local community about the risks
of coal seam gas mining.
“We now also feel an even greater urgency about informing local people about the severe risks that coal seam gas mining poses to our water, our food producing land and our natural areas,” said Ms Flint.
“Our concerns are heightened by the serious failings of the draft Strategic Regional Land Use Plan released by the NSW Government a fortnight ago, which will not protect one square inch of our region from coal seam gas mining.
“We will be gathering outside the government information session on the draft Land Use Plan (to be held at the Armidale Library from 4pm-7pm on March 29) to protest against this flawed proposal and to encourage people to make submissions opposing it.”
In response to the news about the application, the AACSG are organising a number of events for the local community to get informed, including a Coal Seam Gas Forum on May 2 at the Armidale Town Hall and a tour of the Pilliga coal seam gas exploration field April 13 to 15.
