News
Coal seam gas plans for St Peters never had permission to go ahead
10-May-2012
Kate Ausburn
Residents of St Peters have been shocked to discover the company that planned to drill for coal seam gas in their community never had a formal land access agreement with the owners of the proposed site.
This news comes just days after Marrickville Council voted unanimously to prohibit CSG on the site in question as a condition of the council issued development renewal. The St Peters site is owned by Dial A Dump and is home to a waste and recycling facility. The decision made by Marrickville Council on Tuesday 8 May permits Dial A Dump to continue operations provided it does not allow any CSG activity on the site.
Marrickville Council unanimously backs residents in a big win effectively banning Coal Seam Gas from St Peters.
09-May-2012
Jacinta Green
Marrickville Councillors backed residents campaigning against coal seam gas in the inner city tonight when they voted unanimously to support a new condition on agreeing to the development application of a waste recycling business - to prohibit coal seam gas mining.
Media Releases
Lock the Gate calls for communities' right to veto mining in SRLUP submission
15-May-2012
The Lock the Gate Alliance submission to the NSW Government's Strategic Regional Land Use Policy has called for communities to be given a veto right over exploration, mining and gas production in their regions.
Recommendation 8 of 12 in the submission reads: "Introduce a process to enable local communities to be able to say no to mining and petroleum exploration or production in their areas.
Lock the Gate calls for communities' right to veto mining in SRLUP submission
The Lock the Gate Alliance submission to the NSW Government's Strategic Regional Land Use Policy has called for communities to be given a veto right over exploration, mining and gas production in their regions.
Recommendation 8 of 12 in the submission reads: "Introduce a process to enable local communities to be able to say no to mining and petroleum exploration or production in their areas.
Lock the Gate President Drew Hutton said, "Communities should have a right to say no to mining and gas production. They should be able to decide their own future when it comes to what industries they support and how to manage their natural resources for the benefit of the community.
"The key problem with the regional land use plans is that communities are still left out of the decision making process. Agricultural regions and tourist towns are having their long-term economic futures put at risk by the mining at all costs decisions being made by state Governments.
"The Government's current plans are simply a framework to allow mining anywhere in NSW. There is not a single area that a family, a farmer or another business operator can move without the chance of an exploration licence being issued and future mining being permitted.
"More than 15,000 people have rallied against these plans in Sydney and the Northern Rivers and they are fed up with telling Governments the same thing – they want mining ruled out in productive agricultural areas, in areas of high biodiversity value, in closely settled areas and in our water catchments. The way to protect these community assets is to give communities the right to say no to mining and gas developments.
The Government has this last chance to put in place a model that will end the land use conflict and protect agricultural land, the environment, water resources and existing sustainable industries. If they don't, the community stands ready to lock the gate.
The Lock the Gate Alliance submission can be read in full here.
The NSW Office of Water presentation referred to in the submission has been removed from its original source on the NSW Mineral's Council website. It has now been uploaded to the Lock the Gate website and can be accessed here.
Who is LOCK THE GATE?
The LOCK THE GATE Alliance is a national alliance of over 120 community, industry and environmental groups and over 1000 supporters concerned with the devastating impact that certain inadequately assessed and inadequately-regulated fossil fuel extraction industries are having on our short and long term physical, social, environmental and economic wellbeing. We are particularly concerned with the damage caused by the coal and coal seam gas (CSG) mining industries.
What does LOCK THE GATE want?
We believe that neither we, nor our governments (at all levels), are sufficiently well informed about these industries, about their true role in our economy and their impact on our health and welfare as a nation and within the diverse communities that constitute our nation. We are concerned that the short-term greed associated with these industries (including that of governments through royalties and other returns) is compromising the welfare of future generations of Australians and our future ability to thrive in a new world driven by renewable energy sources.
We believe that the interaction of these industries with our governments and the extreme imbalance between the way their rights are measured against the rights of others in the community is indicative of a system that is no longer working for all Australians and that has lost a moral and ethical compass.
Our mission is to hold our governments to account for past decisions regarding the operation of destructive fossil fuel industries and ensure that future decisions incorporate the rights of current and future generations of Australians to sustain their communities, pursue their livelihoods, enjoy and realise the potential of their assets (natural, cultural and economic) and operate within a healthy natural environment. In doing so, we wish to encourage our vision of a model of government decision-making that is properly informed, inclusive, far-sighted and morally and ethically based.
