GROUNDSWELL Gloucester will next week launch a new document it says will expose the ‘truth’ about AGL’s coal seam gas operations in the region.
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The first extracts from ‘Exposing the Truth’ will be presented at a public information evening at the Soldiers Club next Tuesday, February 17.
“If you have been ‘sitting on the fence’, not ‘wanting to get involved’, do not know ‘what to believe’ or feel that ‘the government would do the right thing’ then this is an evening for you,” Groundswell chair Julie Lyford said.
“There is no longer any excuse to say you did not know or were not aware of the well-known risks of the coal seam gas industry.”
The document follows on from Groundswell’s ‘Exposing the Risks’ publication presented to all levels of government and their departments early last year.
The presenters include Groundswell members John Watts, Jeff Kite and Jenni O’Neill while Jane Stevenson will speak about a recent trip to coal seam gas fields in Tara, Queensland.
Researcher Dr Melissa Haswell (Doctors for the Environment) will also address the gathering.
“Four short five-minute films will be shown of local people and why they are fighting to stop the industrialization of the valley,” Mrs Lyford said.
“You may also be very interested in exactly where the AGL exploration licence reaches. Is your home or farm, waterway or groundwater safe from coal seam gas exploration in the future? You may wish to get informed.”
Call for licence to be suspended
MEMBERS of Groundswell Gloucester have hand-delivered a 600-page document to Energy and Resources Minister Anthony Roberts calling for the immediate suspension of AGL’s petroleum exploration licence.
“We say that (AGL) have broken and breached, on many occasions, their obligation to effectively and honestly consult the community,” Groundswell spokesman John Watts said.
The group has also questioned the credibility of the woman tasked with investigating the presence of hazardous BTEX chemicals at AGL’s coal seam gas operations locally.
Lee Shearer, an ex-NSW policewoman, is overseeing the Department of Resources and Energy’s probe of AGL’s operations.
“As a former senior NSW police officer, Lee Shearer is just a remarkable individual, so we take compliance very seriously,” Mr Roberts told the Groundswell delegation when it visited Sydney last week.
Groundswell said Ms Shearer’s past role as a consultant to the mining industry, including ‘managing crisis situations’, fanned worries about her independence.
