Coal seam gas mining in Sydney – public meeting

Coal seam gas mining is spreading like a virus throughout Australia & plans to do exploratory drilling in St Peters this year are causing many in the community great concern. Dart Energy have said they intend to do underground horizontal drilling along the coal seams for a distance of 3.8 kms from the Dial a Dump site in St Peters & “up to 6 kms could be viable.”   This covers a vast area in the Inner West. They also haven’t ruled out doing fracking.  http://newmatilda.com/2011/06/10/fracking-faultlines-extend-world-heritage-areas

A coal seam gas mine has already been told to stop operating in SE QLD after they accidently poisoned the water table.  “The Queensland government has ordered Cougar Energy to shut down its trial UCG plant near Kingaroy in southern Queensland.  The decision was made after the company was found to have contaminated groundwater at the site with cancer-causing chemicals including benzene. It took two months to notify government authorities of the incident, in breach of strict environmental rules.”   http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/coal-gas-company-banned-in-queensland-for-contaminating-groundwater/story-e6frg9df-1226090511694

With the Cooks River, the Alexandra Canal & the Botany Bay aquifer so close to the St Peters drill site, the impact of any accident could be horrendous for the water table, the Cooks River, Botany Bay & the river & urban wildlife.

Robert de Weijer, the CEO of Dart Energy Australia will be one of the speakers at the public meeting though this has yet to be confirmed.  Other speakers will be –

• Drew Hutton – President of the Lock the Gate Alliance
• Helen Redmond – Doctors for the Environment Australia
• Jeremy Buckingham – Greens Mining Spokesperson
• Rochelle Porteous – Mayor of Leichhardt
• The MC will be Jamie Parker – Member for Balmain

First up will be a short film on coal seam gas mining in Australia, then the speeches & questions from the audience.  This is our first chance in a public meeting to listen to & ask questions of Dart Energy.  The range of speakers should make this an interesting & informative evening.

Monday 1st August 2011 7pm – 9pm

Leichhardt Town Hall – 107 Norton Street Leichhardt

No cost

This google map shows 4kms from the Dial a Dump site in a number of directions. Click to enlarge.