Ballina council is today considering a motion to declare the northern rivers a goal seam gas exclusion zone similar to the Hunter Valley where wine and horse racing are protected from the mining industry.
Cr Jeff Johnson has put forward the motion calling on the state government to make the declaration to protect the region from unconventional gas mining.
‘The recently released Draft North Coast Plan makes specific mention of the Clarence-Moreton Basin coal seam and the ‘coal seam gas resources that may be able to support the development and growth of new industries’,’ Cr Johnson said.
‘The report goes on to promote the government’s NSW Gas Plan which establishes a ‘clear strategic framework to deliver world’s best-practice standards and regulation for the coal seam gas industry’.
‘Instead of promoting the ‘potential’ for CSG in our region, the government needs to support the communities clearly expressed position and declare the northern rivers as a CSG/unconventional gas exclusion zone like it has for other regions.’
The Lismore City Council passed a similar motion recently, and a protests against the gas industry are still taking place around the region.
Just last week, anti-gas activists converged on the Lismore council chambers as members of the NSW Department of Planning visited Lismore to give a briefing on the north coast draft plan.
Cr Johnson said any efforts to revitalise the industry in the region would be opposed and questioned why the state government appeared intent on keeping options open for the industry.
‘This position is at odds with the overwhelming majority of northern rivers residents who have made it quite clear that they oppose coal seam gas development in our region,’ he said.
‘Surveys of 33,670 people carried out in the northern rivers, including many areas of the Ballina Shire, saw 147 communities declare themselves gasfield free with 95 per cent opposed to unconventional gas mining.
‘Our community has totally rejected CSG due to its impacts on the region’s water, air and agricultural land resources, the industrialization and fragmentation of rural landscape, and climate change through fugitive emissions.
The Ballina council is meeting today.
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