Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner 10 December 2012:
Democracy inaction
OUR elected representatives appear to have no understanding of the meaning of the word democracy, flippantly rejecting public concerns about coal seam gas mining and the climate consequences of burning it.
Fortunately some media outlets are prepared to publish opinion pieces based on the solid evidence that is available, and bring the facts to the public.
On December 4, The Guardian's George Monbiot summed up the issue with the following comment -
"Preventing climate breakdown - the four, five or six degrees of warming now predicted for this century by green extremists like, er, the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and PriceWaterhouseCoopers - means confronting the oil, gas and coal industry. It means forcing that industry to abandon the four-fifths or more of fossil fuel reserves that we cannot afford to burn. It means cancelling the prospecting and development of new reserves".
At Wednesday's meeting in Lismore, local member Thomas George and minister Brad Hazzard were left in no doubt as to the general public's thought about the way their concerns have been scornfully dismissed.
One lady's statement registered with me above many others: "What I struggle to understand is why my property has to be trashed to provide cheap fuel for China," she said.
As I left the Lismore venue an elderly man told me: "You have no idea how intrusive this bloody awful industry is. I've got a cluster of four wells grouped within metres of each other, just 210m from my home. They were all drilled at different times and the constant noise of drilling went on, 24/7, for months on end. That was followed by diesel motors rattling away for years to drive the pumps.
"It's just endless and we can't get away from it. Yet planes have to stop running overnight, and we can't mow our lawns before 7am on a Sunday because of the noise."
This is what Glenugie residents will have to put up with if Metgasco finds a viable gas resource at The Avenue drill site.
So is it any wonder the workers have been met with abuse and opposition?
John Edwards
South Grafton
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