Metgasco amnesia

ABC North Coast NSW: Henderson at a Casino test drill site

Metgasco’s reply in The Northern Star on 20^th October 2012 conveniently forgets to mention the wining and dining of local government councillors it also does in an effort to sway decision makers on the Northern Rivers. Nor was there any mention of its surreptitious entry onto council land at Rock Valley last year before it had met Lismore City Council’s consent conditions or the fact that it was fined $5,000 for dumping "more than 1.3 million litres of waste water".

“I RESPOND to a letter to the editor on 19 October (entitled Big 'no' to CSG). Metgasco is open and transparent and we do consult with the community.
Our industry is safe and established and has the support of the NSW Government. We are proud of the contribution we make to the Northern Rivers region and will make in the future.
We are accessible to the local media and regularly attend community events talking about our industry and our company.
We have been based in Casino for almost 10 years and with our Casino-based staff driving around in Metgasco-labelled utes it would be hard to hide even if we wanted to.
Our constant presence at community forums was a fact recognised last year by activist, Ian Gaillard, in which he commended us for "turning out to everything". Also Joanne Shoebridge on ABC local radio this week acknowledged our accessibility to talk about industry issues.
A key part of our community relations strategy is getting out and speaking to as many people as possible.
The events we organise include one-on-one meetings, presentations to small groups, conducting tours of our operations, addressing large membership-based gatherings, attending numerous community events (like Beef Week and Primex) and participating in community debates. Just last week we presented to Southern Cross University's regular Environmental Science Series seminar. It is worth noting we must provide annual reports to government on our community consultation program.
In the past, Green activists have attended meetings with the primary goal to disrupt proceedings. There is no benefit of meetings when this sort of behaviour occurs.
We believe a large percentage of the community will take comfort in the knowledge the NSW Government has closely assessed our industry and given it a tick of approval. We are aware however, that there is a small but vocal element of the community that is ideologically opposed to development and the fossil fuel industry, irrespective of its demonstrated safety and importance to our society.
We ask that the community accepts that strong regulations and processes are in place and allow them to be observed.
Peter Henderson
Managing Director and CEO, Metgasco”