“The task we took on at the forum was to ‘close the gap’, between the lack of factual information, and the claims being made by the anti-coal seam gas groups,” said David Shepard, Moderator of the recent Coal Seam Gas Q&A Forum at the Johns River Hall.
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“W’e’ve just finished going over the complete and lengthy transcript, and it bears striking witness to our initial impressions on the day.”
“When you go through it - and I invite anyone with an interest to do so — you can see there was a great deal of oratory from Mr. Peter Epov of the Manning Alliance and other speakers against coal seam gas, but not alot of substance, particularly in responding to the policies and practices of CSG operations in our area.
“There seems to be no thought about a cohesive energy plan at all amongst the anti-coal seam gas activists, just a ‘not-in-my-backyard mentality’, closed off to the scientific, regulatory and operational facts concluded Mr. Shepard about the anti-coal seam gas opposition on offer.
The forum, hosted jointly by the Three Brothers Network, the Johns River Community Progress Association, and the Johns River Community Hall and Recreational Reserve Trust, was designed to explore the CSG issue in a balanced and fair way.
“The emotionalism and lack of focus on the actual issues really threw us a bit at the first to be honest”, said Shepard, who is also the President of the local progress association. “They [the anti-coal seam gas activists] put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into their cause, but on a point-by-point basis, they just failed to address the points. The points made supporting the status quo, coming in from Leslie Williams, Dr. Gary Ellem, and from many questions posed, were quite well supported.”
Forum hosts found the arguments put forth by Dr. Gary Ellem of the Tom Farrell Institute on the Environment, at Newcastle University, to be particularly well thought-out and entirely convincing across a wide range of points during the long debate during the forum.
“Part of this whole issue around coal seam gas has been a big pressure on preconceived misconceptions basically,” stated Dr. Ellem, supporting a key finding of the forum hosts.
Three Brothers Network Chair Lorri Fischer represented the organiser impressions, saying “I feel in many ways that these activists, of which there was a large proportion in the crowd, are being lead down the wrong garden path.
“They are all exceptionally well intended with an admirable concern for our water, air and environment. But it’s a deep mystery to us, the hosts of the event, as to why we even have these anti-fraccing groups when, according to Dr. Ellem, it’s not even used in NSW and not particularly needed either due to our geology.”
Hall Trust President Chris Bawn went on the record to underscore that “Water is an issue for all humans of course. But Dr. Gary Ellem’s explanations of the hydraulic separation of aquifers in NSW - with groundwater on top used for agriculture being separated from the very deep layers below by rock layers - were particularly convincing, and again, largely ignored by the protest groups.”
“We really applaud the time and effort put into their cause by the activist groups, it’s admirable, and their issues deserve to be heard”, said Mr. Bawn.
Property rights and access, and compensation of landowners were hot topics, and Leslie Williams, MP for Port Macquarie, led the debate, underscoring that “People from mining companies simply cannot walk onto your land and have access to it, that is a fact.”
She was backed up by Dr. Ellem, “Of all the CSG access agreements that have tried to be worked out in New South Wales, only two have gone to arbitration,” said Dr. Ellem. “Everybody else has come up with a voluntary access agreement with the coal seam gas company independently of the legal system.”
David Freeman facilitated the two and a half hour forum. Mr. Freeman, a long-time Manning resident, was key in bridging the gap between some of the technical and scientific information being presented and the sentiments of the community and activist groups present in the audience.
On the property issue, David Freeman helpfully summed up, “If someone does approach your place, don’t go it alone. Go and get some legal advice, go and get some good advice from reputable sources.” Tony Marshall with law firm Paton Hooke in Taree made submissions to the forum, having assisted local residents recently to come to agreeable terms with coal seam gas companies.
Peter Epov spoke at length on the top issues which are vital to his burgeoning constituency.
“We have invested a great deal of money and time and blood and tears into our land. We’ve developed it; we’ve grown it. The current laws are not relevant, are really not applicable to this kind of situation.” His words summed up the strong feelings of the audience in his group.
“This is a really serious issue,” Mr. Epov summarized at one point. “I’m very worried about the future of this country beyond the next twenty years, beyond the next thirty years, and quite frankly, to the next five hundred years.”
On issues that are more concrete however, Mr. Shepard was not swayed. “I was quite surprised when Peter Epov with the Manning Alliance advocated continued coal use — despite the clear advantages of replacing them to lower greenhouse gas emissions.” Mr. Epov further stated during the debate that he did not think energy demand from China would continue its rise, in stark contrast to predictions by economists and energy sector analysts.
Leslie Williams took the opportunity of the forum to present key elements of the state government’s new Aquifer Interference policy and Strategic Regional Land Use policy, both designed to address community concerns on water and prime agricultural land.
She underscored the government’s commitment to community consultation in policy development, stating “The New South Wales government is proud of its record in only the nine months of the consultation that we’ve done in the community.”.
“We are not a government which is going to allow for a disaster in terms of coal seam gas”, said Mrs. Williams during the forum. “Despite the forty-four licenses issued by Labor, we haven’t issued any licenses at this stage.”
Greater Taree City Council Mayor Paul Hogan spoke on his experiences with Mid Coast Water, where he serves on the board with members from other Councils in the region. Referring to Dr. Ellem’s outlining of stringent conditions placed on CSG companies by the state government in regards to water, Mayor Hogan stated, “As Gary has just said, down at Gloucester, there were seventy-two conditions imposed on AGL.”
In referring to how CSG companies generally could make their operations more attractive to the public, he opined, “I would have thought that if AGL had any brains, that they would have put a pipeline up the coast to supply us with some gas. That may have been a good selling point.”
Deborah Willis of the NSW Farmers’ Association shared a particularly poignant moment with farmer Bob McGowan in the audience, on compensation, property rights and the environment. She highlighted the association’s Framework for Sustainable Development document, working with all governments to achieve positive outcomes for the farmers of NSW.
Labor’s Peter Alley came forth with frank discussion on where the former government got it wrong on coal seam gas, and outlined current state Labor policy on a licensing moratorium, as well as the Prime Ministerial scientific panel being set up.
Further contributions in the form of submissions to the forum were made by federal Member for Lyne, Rob Oakshott, as well as other peak bodies and representative groups, all online at the Three Brothers Network webite.
“Towards the end we did some voting across a variety of issues - in one, eighty-five percent of the forum confirmed happily that they had learnt something from our forum, which was a great result,” said Mr. Bawn, who served as co-facilitator with David Freeman.
The hosts all felt advocating more helpful campaigns, such as the biomass strategy outlined by Dr. Ellem to complement the gas component of our future energy mix, might be a more positive direction for many of the activists present.
Dr. Ellem had some advice for the audience towards the end, saying “It’s very easy to have simple responses when things are posed to you on the basis of fear. He continued, “If we just think about this as a black and white issue, the best possible outcomes move off the table.”
The complete 140-minute forum transcript is available for reading online at www.3bn.com.au/csg, or by downloading a PDF version, complete with full index of issues and points.