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Pam Allan leaves no doubt.... |
...that any water study carried out on the Liverpool Plains must be a scientifically rigorous, catchment-wide, independent and transparent process and that its results must be acted upon in government planning decisions.
Former NSW Environment Minister Pam Allan is the independent facilitator of the Water Study Working Group (other members include CCAG delegates, NSW Farmers, Namoi Water, NSW Minerals Council, NSW DPI and BHP).
After touring the prime agricultural land of the Liverpool Plains yesterday and visiting The Blockade site, Ms Allan was keen to take and answer the communities' questions and hear concerns about the ongoing process of ensuring that an appropriate water study was set up.
Ms Allan clearly understood community concerns that even the most rigorously planned water study could be ignored under present NSW planning processes and that all responsible departments, especially Planning, needed to be involved at the earliest stages of discussions to prevent the study from being a purely ‘academic’ exercise. Ms Allan indicated she was investigating measures to achieve that result.
We are encouraged. We look forward to continuing to work on the Objectives and Terms of Reference within the Pam Allan Working Group whilst multi-tasking through this busy and very promising harvest.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 15 November 2008 )
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With Australia already on NASA’s desertification watch, and the rapid ingress of salinity into the meagre 6% of land Australia relies upon to feed her people and those of other nations, one would think pumping highly saline water from deep coal aquifers onto the surface, in order to liberate methane gas, would be unthinkable.
Unfortunately not. Hundreds of once-grazed hectares are also sacrificed to evaporation ponds in NSW & QLD to ‘store’ this waste water. As the ponds dry out, salt storms carry hundreds of tonnes of wind-blown salt and other contaminants onto the surrounding agricultural land and into our river systems, scalding and poisoning the land and water.
Allowing such willful environmental damage makes a mockery of regeneration work to stop the spread of salinity; of buy-backs to improve the quality and quantity of flows in the Murray Darling as we try to preserve what’s left of our food growing land.
Coal seam gas exploration in productive farming country? Are our State governments crazy? It’s about as welcome as a dose of salts! Will our politicians wake up before the salt scalds are on their doorstep?
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Last Updated ( Monday, 10 November 2008 )
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Further Federal support for Food and our independent, catchment-wide water study
The latest high profile visitor during the Caroona Blockade’s 15th week was Bob Brown, Leader of the Greens, accompanied by Independent MP Tony Windsor. Senator Brown, champion of many environmental campaigns, spoke thoughtfully to the gathering of farmers, locals and mayors about the increasing loss of farming land around the world and the pressures of population growth on food supplies.
 Turning to the threat to our water supplies, Senator Brown said: “I have committed to ensuring that there is an independent study on the effect of mining on the aquifer when the Federal Government’s Water Amendment Bill comes through the Senate [and] I am hopeful that the support of the Greens, Independent Senators and Coalition will mean that the Federal Government must look at completing this independent study before BHP’s exploration or mining goes ahead.”
Mr Windsor also enlightened Shenhua coal, holders of the Watermark exploration licence, last week that the Federal government now had input on water assets within the Murray Darling Basin, as control of such water was no longer only a State issue. It appears the State government may not have made this inconvenient detail clear to the Chinese resource company.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 01 November 2008 )
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SOSLP Sydney was out in force at the
Rally Against Inappropriate Development, 19/10/2008
Yellow signs and what they mean – it’s time to protect our prime agricultural land from short sighted, inappropriate development – are spreading. They are over the border in Queensland, where the food bowl Darling Downs are threatened; they can be found on Haystack Plains near Jambour where the poignant video, "You can't eat coal for breakfast", originates, and around scenic Gloucester and Stroud in NSW where the productive river flats and pristine Mammy Johnson river are also threatened by inappropriate mining licences and weak regulation.
But the signs are not just on the land. Signs are to be found in Sydney and Brisbane because city people and their kids are becoming increasingly concerned about the quality and security of their clean food and water.
It’s a sign of the times, and those times are changing. With elections looming in NSW and QLD we trust that our governments are listening.
Read the Country Life article.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 20 October 2008 )
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Blockade - 4 months on!
CCAG executive is in continuing, weekly, consultations with State Government committee. Facilitator Pam Allan was at Blockade Thursday 13th meeting with CCAG and supporters.
Media Snippets
- Blockade watch continues quietly- Mines and Communities: BHP Billiton accused of half-truths and evasions.
ABC report on Sen. Browns visit and NBN video
- Daily Telegraph report on childrens toxic drinking water
- The ABC reports on adverse effects of mining - a Qld perspective
- The Herald reports on coal mines plans to dump mine water into river
- Greens Lee Rhiannon calls on the Minister for Mining Ian McDonald to
publicly commit to reject any application by BHP Billiton to mine for
coal at Caroona
Tips and Rumours
Agents are hearing of more prospective land purchases by coal companies, in spite of current economic uncertainties.
The location of the proposed BHP thermal coal power station appears to be right in the middle of Caroona village.
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