Coal Seam Gas- Finally Shoalhaven City Council see that the truth is not a jobs rich future

There has been so much written this week on the issue of coal seam gas that I was almost going to leave it of the blog list.

But I just couldn’t!

I’ve blogged before on Shoalhaven Councillors who were unwilling to support the different coal seam gas motions that I have presented to Council. Council once even used the classic bury the motion tactic by calling a briefing (the majority of times briefings are legit). The briefing was given by the Department of Primary Industry and was full of glowing praise for the governments’ ability to regulate the gas mining industry. The DPI reps gave an undertaking to Council to consult should the license be renewed- of course they didn’t it was lip service at its worst.

This current crop of Councillors didn’t support the motion I put up in October which was basically requesting the State Government to protect our valuable farm land through the strategic land use plan. My suggestion then was met with blank stares from Councillors on a steep learning curve.

I will give them the benefit of that doubt because to their credit they came around and supported both motions that I put up last week and another motion that was brought through the policy resources and reserves committee on nominating exclusion zones.

I resurrected the motions to Council on the back of the public meeting held in Gerringong instigated by 94 year old activist Ken O'Hara and supported by the Kiama Greens. 350 people turned up to that meeting from all walks of life and the speakers list was incredibly knowledgeable activists and parliamentarian Jeremy Buckingham from The Greens. I seized the opportunity to tell the meeting that to date Shoalhaven Council had balked at passing a strong comment on coal seam gas. My call to action was that they wrote to the Mayor and Councillors seeking their commitment to join this campaign.

The next morning I put together two notices of motion one strong and the other just reaffirming a previous commitment to the Southern Councils Group statement. This time around I didn’t bother adding complex background documents and providing numerous maps, I had done this the last time and hoped that in the intervening period that the Councillors had done their own investigation into the issue. Clr Watson had given them the warning to ‘watch me and my Green propaganda’ and I’m sure some have taken his ‘dire warning’ seriously.

When the Council meeting finally came around I really wasn’t sure how the Councillors would vote, I hadn’t lobbied or made pleas to them during other meetings, I did however support the motion that staff had put up the previous week to ask the state government to voluntarily exclude some residential zones from gas mining.

It did feel like a great moment when all but one hand was raised to support the motion that had been mildly amended by the other Councillors. So the final motion read…

Shoalhaven Council write to the Premier Mr Barry O Farrell to express support for the following.

A freeze on CSG exploration and mining.

An inquiry into the impact on CSG development.

A ban on fracking.

A ban on CSG development in drinking water catchments and on prime agricultural land and all residential land in the Shoalhaven.

Council also call on the NSW State Gov to voluntarily exclude the Shoalhaven from Coal Seam mining exploration and revoke the recent renewal of PEL469 to Leichardt Resources/Planet Gas as they failed to meet the conditions of the license.

The other motion to reaffirm Councils support for the Southern Councils Group statement on Coal Seam Gas was also supported.

Up until that point the Council really hadn’t heard much from the community on the issue, even though community conversations were talking about how wrong it was that an exploration license has been issued in the first place. The community campaign against CSG is building in the Shoalhaven with a forum to be held on 14 May, I hope some of the Councillors can attend so they can witness firsthand the passion that this issue inspires and unites people from all walks of life.