Call for coal seam moratorium

TO the cheers of delight from about a dozen protesters who descended on Lismore Council’s meeting on Tuesday night, councillors voted unanimously to back a moratorium on coal seam mining.

Council voted to write to the State Government and Opposition, as well as the Prime Minister, urging for a ban on the practise that it said could contaminate ground water.

“I’m not against mining, it has the potential to bring income, investment, money and jobs into our community,” said councillor David Yarnall proposing the motion, “but we’ve got to be sure what we are doing is not going to ruin the environment, especially a vital resource such as water.”

The council’s call for the moratorium follows the NSW Farmers Association and the Australian Greens.

Protestor and Keerrong Valley resident Helen Gibbons where Arrow Energy has recently completed exploratory drilling, said the expansion of coal seam gas was occurring too rapidly and without safeguards.

“No-one is really aware of the dangers - that’s why we need a moratorium,” she said. “We need to have independent survey by the Environmental Protections agency to ensure what’s happening in America doesn’t happen here.”

Not so happy after Tuesday’s meeting were the James Gibson Road Action Group, who were also at the meeting calling on councillors not to approve an application to laterally expand Corndale Quarry.

The quarry’s Bob Smith said the expansion, which would not increase the extraction rate, was needed to ensure workers could safely get to the basalt.

However, the action group’s Raya Blok said the application was “expansion by stealth to achieve the outcomes of the initial development application in 2008”.

Councillors unanimously passed the proposal.