Mrs Sage and Mr Ayres, doing about CSG?
A little it seems,
but much more needs to be done!
The NSW government announced today (19th February 2013) that Cabinet has approved additional regulations for CSG in NSW. While there were few details about the new regulations in the government's media releases they appear to place a two-kilometre CSG exclusion zone around residential areas for new CSG exploration and production activities; existing CSG operations will however be allowed to continue it seems. Exclusion zones for identified "critical industry clusters", such as horse breeders and wine producers, were also announced.
The Society clearly welcomes all improvements to CSG regulation, and notes Premier O'Farrell's statement that: "Cabinet has listened [to] community concerns brought to it by local members of parliament."
We sincerely hope that Mrs Sage and Mr Ayres were among those local members. If they were then they deserve our thanks for this step in the right direction.
While this announcement is a welcome improvement, much more needs to be done:
- there was no mention of guaranteeing protection for our best broad acre agricultural land;
- there was no mention of guaranteeing protection for our water catchments;
- there was no mention of guaranteeing protection for environmentally sensitive areas;
- there was no mention of guaranteeing protection for our aquifers.
We hope these additional guarantees are forthcoming and urge our local members to lobby for them.
Putting CSG operations 2km away from the majority of voters may put the industrial ugliness out of sight (and out of some minds) but it does not solve the many inherent problems with CSG - all of which travel much much further than 2kms!
Below we provide an update about the responses we have been receiving from our own local members, Mrs Sage and Mr Ayres, over the last 2-3 months.
Mrs Roza Sage,Member for Blue Mountains
However, after a request from the Blue Mountains Gazette to clarify her position, Mrs Sage said she would "never support any CSG exploration or extraction here in the Blue Mountains due to its unique status as a World Heritage National Park" (BM Gazette 12/12/2012).
While this was a welcome first step from Mrs Sage, saying you will "never support" something is very different indeed to saying that you will actively "oppose" it. The petition very clearly called for Mrs Sage to declare her "opposition".
Since Mrs Sage made those comments to the Gazette the Society is not aware of any significant CSG related action by her other than to send an undated letter to petition signatories. This letter essentially said no more that what she had already said to the Gazette. A response from Dr Brian Marshall commenting on Mrs Sage's undated letter was published in the Gazette on 13th February 2013.
You can read a copy of Dr Marshall's response here.
It is noteworthy that Mrs Sage has been singularly silent on the critical issue of advocating, both in Parliament and directly with AGL, for the removal of Greater Blue Mountains lands from AGL's CSG exploration licence. This was the second major point of the petition.
On Thursday 31st January 2013 the Society wrote to Mrs Sage asking what she has done and is doing "in relation to CSG - particularly in regard to the removal of Greater Blue Mountains lands from AGL's exploration licence (PEL2)." The letter was hand delivered to Mrs Sage's office, as well as an electronic copy sent by email.
As of Monday 18th February 2013 the Society had received no response from Mrs Sage.
Given that the call for action on CSG contained in the petition came from (at last count) around 3500 people, Mrs Sage's lack of apparent action is of real concern.
The Society believes that calls for our politicians to act on CSG must now be far more public. It is therefore placing a series of ads in the Blue Mountains Gazette. The ads developed by the Society's CSG working group may be viewed as follows -
We continue to hope that Mrs Sage will do the right thing for the Greater Blue Mountains area. Namely, take decisive and immediate action to ensure that CSG does not come to any part of the Greater Blue Mountains, including very importantly our extensive water catchments areas. Once the drilling begins, it is very very difficult to stop it - countless communities have already discovered this to their great cost.
Mr Stuart Ayres,Member for Penrith
Just prior to Christmas 2012 representatives of the Society met with Mr Ayres. We discussed our concerns about CSG as well as presenting him with a copy of the CSG petition as a significant number of the signatories live within his electorate. At that meeting Mr Ayres agreed to provide the Society with a statement of his personal position on CSG so that we could let the Society's membership and the wider community know where he stood.
We followed up on this matter several times during January and eventually received a letter from Mr Ayres dated 5th February 2013. Based on the positive nature of our late December discussions with Mr Ayres we had expected (perhaps hoped for is a more realistic assessment) a statement that at least expressed a measured opposition to CSG in Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains. However, all we received was a letter that essentially consisted of the usual government media-spin on its CSG policies. To the main body of this very disappointing letter Mr Ayres added a small hand written sentence that stated: "I still have concerns about this issue and will be watching closely to see the impacts of our policy changes".
The Society is glad Mr Ayres has "concerns", any thinking person should. However, Mr Ayres should be more than just concerned. He is an intelligent man, has looked into the nature of CSG activities, and is fully aware that many of CSG's impacts are irreversible. As such it is an indefensible position to sit "watching" to see what the impacts of the Govt's policies will be. It's all too late when the aquifers are damaged, the soil and water polluted, and the methane released into the atmosphere.
A copy of Mr Ayres' full letter is available here.
Professional geologist Peter Green has critiqued the O'Farrell Government's CSG policies mentioned in Mr Ayres' letter. The critique is available here.
The Society hopes that in due course the Member for Penrith will take a more decisive and considered position on CSG. A position that not only defends the the residential areas of his Western Sydney electorate, but one that will result in a regulatory framework that will guarantee protection for: our broad acre agricultural lands, our sensitive environmental areas, our surface watercourses, and our aquifers - right across NSW!
We will keep you informed.
BMCS Project Officer
(Food and Environment)
19th February 2013
