Ashiya Austin, Fern Beach
An ex-oilman and whistleblower, Ian R Crane, is at present in Byron Bay. Ian was invited by Sunshine Coast Lock The Gate to come and give an insider’s viewpoint on coal-seam gas but he has been attacked by factions within the movement and has had unsubstantiated allegations made against him.
Following the invitation, controversy, claims and counter-claims have rocked the Lock The Gate movement in Australia; so far Ian has spoken to packed-out venues in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne and speaks in Brisbane on Tuesday, but it seems that the very people who would benefit the most from Ian’s depth of knowledge of the oil industry are the ones who are missing out.
His reply to Facebook questions this morning was that CSG is currently the ‘low-hanging fruit’ in the hydrocarbon extraction industry and with the rapidly advancing technology for CSG production, he says the fracking issue process will be expanded and will ultimately condemn large tracts of land to uninhabitable wilderness. ‘This,’ Ian stated, ‘is the ultimate aim of the extraction industry; uninhabitable lands mean no pesky residents to interfere with the oil companies’ quest for profit.’
Ian says that it is imperative to focus on issues that unite, rather than those that divide; it makes no sense that LTG has banned him from posting information on its Facebook walls and prevented him from defending the allegations made against him.
Ian will be presenting people with the bigger picture as far as coal-seam gas goes at the RSL Club in Byron Bay on Thursday. Beginning 6.30pm, he will speak on a number of important topics and a Q&A session will follow. An informal gathering giving LTG activists a chance to meet Ian is in the pipeline for early next week; if you would like to attend this gathering please contact me on Facebook.
