Local Knitting Nanna and mother of seven Dominique Jacobs was arrested and charged after chaining herself to a coal seam gas wastewater plant gate near Narrabri early on Monday morning.
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The incident occurred yesterday morning at the gates of the Santos Leewood Water treatment plant south of Narrabri, which will support 850 CSG wells above the Great Artesian Basin.
Gloucester’s Ms Jacobs, 51, Lismore’s Theresa Mason, 48, and Northern Rivers’ Angela Dalu, 70, were joined by up to 60 anti-CSG demonstrators by 7am. The three women were removed with bolt-cutters just after 9am and charged with obstructing traffic and failure to comply with police direction. Local police said the women did not resist arrest.
Late last year Ms Jacobs addressed Gloucester Shire councillors at council's monthly meeting in support of mayor John Rosenbaum’s successful motion for council to request a government buy-back of AGL’s Gloucester licence.
"I've never been involved in protests in my life before the coal seam gas threat came to my home town of Gloucester," Ms Jacobs said.
"As a mother I cannot stand back and let this destructive industry roll out across our state," she said on Monday.
Members of the Knitting Nannas will protest "every single day" until Santos’ project is halted, to protect the Basin and surrounding agricultural land from what they say will be a “methane mess”.
The women are due to appear in Narrabri Local Court on February 23.