Alternative Media Group

Fuming protesters stop traffic

Author:

Clare Blumer

Posted:

Thursday, 22 September 2011

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On Sunday more than 1500 people marched along King Street to Sydney Park to protest against coal seam gas (CSG) extraction in St Peters and across the country.

The large turnout was a  surprise to the organisers who have been battling to stop a CSG well being dug just one hundred metres from Sydney Park.

Protesters of all ages chanted: “We can’t eat coal and we can’t drink gas” and “Coal seam gas – we will stop it, our community is not for profit.”

In a speech to the crowd at Sydney Park,  GetUp’s national director Simon Sheikh said: “This is a fight back that we haven’t seen in this country for many years.

“I call on Barry O’Farrell and the New South Wales government to abandon their obsession with mining.”

NSW Greens Member Jeremy Buckingham told the crowd he would be asking the state government for a moratorium of CSG exploration in NSW until there is more evidence proving CSG extraction techniques are safe for the community.

The NSW government has already halted the use of the controversial hydraulic fracturing technique known as ‘fracking’ until the end of this year and the Senate is inquiring into CSG extraction.

Paul Benedek from Sydney Residents Against Coal Seam Gas (SRACSG) said: “It was amazing to have thousands of people marching down King Street from all walks of life – saying not only do we not stand for Coal seam gas mining in St Peters, but all across Sydney and all across Australia.”

Jacinta Green, spokesperson for SRACSG said Dart Energy had a license issued by the NSW government to set up gas exploration wells in the Sydney Basin that “affects every suburb in metropolitan Sydney”.

SRACSG obtained the approval conditions of Dart Energy’s license from the government last week.

“What we actually found is that there’s actually really strict conditions attached to that license [and] they’ve breached them all,” Ms Green said. “So as far as we’re concerned the license is invalid and it should be cancelled.”

The organisers rejected claims that the protest was a result of Not In My Back Yard complaints from the local community.

Mr Sheikh from GetUp, who grew up in Enmore, said: “What we’re finding here in Sydney is the same community spirit we’re finding all across Australia.

“This isn’t only about local regions and the impact on local areas. When coal seam gas, when fraccing, when those toxic chemicals get into our water aquifers they can have impacts hundreds of kilometres away,” he said. ”

“So this is not a story about my backyard – it’s about our nation’s future.”

“We must be concerned, not only for the environmental impacts but by the fact that this is a very tough industry to clean up.”

Some of the thousands protesting last month

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