Re your article Metgasco sets high price for buyback.
Mining is a speculative industry. Metgasco had a licence to speculate, issued by the then-Labor government and renewed over a decade with enthusiastic support from the governing NSW LNP government, represented in Lismore by Thomas George.
Metgasco failed to comply with the terms of its licence in many ways: discharging toxic fluids into the Casino sewerage system; failing to report an explosion; leaking holding ponds and other offences.
The offence the Office of Coal Seam Gas ran with, when the chips were down and a massive confrontation between police and protectors was scheduled any moment, was Metgasco’s failure adequately to consult with its community. The licence was suspended. By then Metgasco had spent a lot of money, speculating. They took the NSW government to the Supreme Court to appeal and the suspension of its licence was revoked.
But no amends were made for its failure to consult, and with no lessons learned, Metgasco has announced, whether you like it or not, its intention to return to Bentley and conduct seismic testing at Rock Valley.
Its refusal to accept the buy-back terms offered by the State government demonstrates that Metgasco will continue to fly in the face of overwhelming public opinion, disrespect the communities whose lands it wants to despoil and never take no for an answer.
With speculation, you win some, you lose some. Metgasco is already a big-time loser, and if they want to know how greatly their speculation has misfired, they only have to return to the Northern Rivers and face what awaits them here.
Jennie Dell, Lismore
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
