Case for NO INCINERATOR AT CASINO

No Thermal Incinerator for Casino by clarencegirl on Scribd

Death in police custody at Casino NSW

 

The following appears to be the fifth critical incident involving NSW Police and the second death in custody at a police station to date in 2023.

NSW Police, Latest News, 19 March 2023:

Critical incident investigation underway over death of man – Casino

Sunday, 19 March 2023 04:14:15 PM

A critical incident investigation is underway following the death of a man in the state’s north today.

Just after 11am today (Sunday 19 March 2023), officers from Richmond Police District were called to a showground on Summerland Way at Casino, following reports a man had been assaulted.

On arrival, a 48-year-old man allegedly assaulted a police officer before he was arrested and taken to Casino Police Station.

While in custody, the man became unconscious. Despite the efforts of responding police and NSW Ambulance paramedics, the man died in custody.

A critical incident team from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad will now investigate all circumstances surrounding the man’s death.

The investigation will be subject to an independent review and a report will be prepared for the Coroner.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.

UPDATE

Indynr.com, 20 March 2023:

Police tight-lipped on death in custody

Police called a media conference today to discuss the death in custody at Casino Police Station yesterday, Sunday, March 19.

Despite questions from several news outlets at the conference, Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna did not reveal any new information about the death of the 48 year old man while in custody at Casino Police Station.....

The family had been notified and they were understandably upset, Mr McKenna said.

Rally To Stop Casino's Incinerator Madness, Saturday 26 November 2022 at Reynolds Road, Casino opp Cemetery

 

 

A little ray of sunshine out Casino way

 

Richmond River Times, 3 March 2021

A 52 ha mixed soybean, corn and cane farm on the Casino Coraki Road in the NSW Northern Rivers plants sunflowers as a rotation crop.

When the sunflowers are in full bloom in the roadside paddocks the mass effect attracts both locals and tourists. Photos with the crop in the background seem to be the order of the day.

This year cut sunflowers blooms were available at the roadside for a donation via a secure charity box to allow visitors depart with a handful of sunshine. 

All money raised went to the Casino Cancer Group.

Hopefully sunflowers will be a crop visible from the road again next year.

NSW Northern Rivers online cattle sales power on during COVID-19 pandemic

The Northern Star, 5 May 2020, p.2:

Livestock sales at Casino and Tamworth delivered a total of more than $175,000 worth of stock to online bidders last Friday. 

This result was thanks to an increasing number of bids being made online via StockLive during the auctions at the Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange (NRLX) and the Tamworth Regional Livestock Exchange (TRLX). 

Blake O’Reilly, from Ray White Livestock Gurya, who purchased on behalf of clients at Casino, has been purchasing via StockLive since before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He said there had been a growth in the number of clients watching online. 

“The number of vendors and buyers who are now watching and bidding online at StockLive-partnered auctions has grown significantly since COVID,” he said. 

“Having the online platform working in with the physical auctions strengthens the marketplace and gives a true price for the stock, taking the risk of purchasing. 

“The platform is especially useful for the increased number of sales using ring selling, which gives the purchaser full vision of the livestock being sold.” 

Brad Willis, NRLX Manager, said despite a planned Telstra outage in Casino and Lismore, the auction went ahead successfully, with 360 viewers, 23 registered bidders, 141 bids taken online, and 13 lots sold to numerous buyers. 

StockLive Manager, Libby Hufton, said the number of inquiries from saleyards across all regions continued to grow with more than 15 saleyards using StockLive’s platform. 

“We continue to see the number of buyers and viewers grow each sale we have at these yards. It is a credit to the facility operators, agents and vendors,” she said.

The facts about the O'Farrell Government's October 2013 announcements as they relate to coal seam gas exploration and mining on the NSW North Coast

CSG exclusion zones are in force from 4 October 2013 for existing residential areas and areas zoned as villages across the state, and the North West and South West Growth Centres of Sydney.....

The CSG exclusion zones prohibit new coal seam gas exploration and development in and within a 2 kilometre buffer around existing residential and village areas in all 152 councils across the state, and the North West and South West Growth Centres of Sydney. [NSW Dept. of Planning & Infrastructure,4 October 2013]

More than 250,000 hectares in the Mid and Far North Coast regions have been identified as high-quality farmland as part of Government initiatives released today to better protect agricultural land from mining and coal seam gas (CSG) projects. [Minister for Planning & Infrastructure and Minister for Primary Industries,joint media release,4 October2013]

Pipelines associated with CSG development will also be prohibited within the exclusion zones, but are permitted within the two kilometre buffer zone, subject to development approval. [NSW Strategic Land Use Policy,FAQ sheet,October 2013]

Existing coal seam gas pilot/test and production wells in exclusion zones and within the 2km buffer zones are not affected by this announcement and, presumably any existing tenements which are under active exploration are also exempt from these provisions. It is also possible that current exploration licences per se may be exempt from these exclusion and buffer provisions.

High quality Northern Rivers agricultural land is not automatically exempt from coal seam gas exploration and mining – it must be assessed by the gateway panel against any proposed coal seam gas development application. This panel does not have the power to reject any development proposal and can only recommend further studies or modifications to the application under consideration.

Legislation has been drafted which makes it mandatory that the estimated economic significance to the state is to take precedence over environmental, agricultural or social considerations when a coal seam gas development application is being considered. 

In addition, the NSW Government has failed to implement a process to refer CSG projects to a federal scientific committee that considers water quality issues.

No Northern Rivers agricultural land appears to be is within an identified critical industry cluster.

A limited amount of land on the NSW North Coast has been identified as subject to exclusion zones, as it has been classified by the NSW Government as future residential growth land.

None of the smallest rural villages appear to be formally in exclusion zones at this stage (with the exception of part of Goonengerry in Byron Local Government Area found to meet village criteria for exemption) and State Environmental Planning Policy (Mining, Petroleum Production and Extractive Industries) Amendment (Coal Seam Gas) 2013 is yet to passed by the NSW Parliament.

Metgasco Limited’s plans for an estimated 1,000 gas wells in the Casino district may be affected by these recent NSW Government announcements. This exploration, mining and production company has itself revised down its gas reserve potential by 20 per cent in anticipation of new legislation and industry regulations.

Whether the company's attempt in the Casino area to classify tight gas (which is highly likely to require fracking) as conventional gas survives scrutiny, should one or more local residents take any development consent to court, remains to be seen.

Metgasco’s ordinary share price has never fully recovered from the combined effects of the market’s knowledge of widespread community opposition to its commercial plan for the region, its cessation of mining activity and loss this year of yet another potential farm-in partner. 

The market is again reacting with a 12.5 per cent fall in Metgasco's share price holding at close of business on 4 October.

UPDATE:

In apparent anticipation of the foreshadowed changes to land use policy, in 2012  Macquarie Energy, a subsidiary of Dart Energy, said it would move to the Northern Rivers region of NSW, where it holds exploration licences that cover Byron Bay, Ballina and Lismore and surrounding rural areas.

* Dart Energy advised in September 2013  that the transfer of Petroleum Exploration Licence 445 (PEL445) from Arrow Energy has been completed. PEL445 is a sizeable licence, covering 7,076km² of the Clarence-Moreton Basin, in northern New South Wales

* According to the government, the exclusion zones leave 90 per cent of the state's energy resources untouched...

Is the Abbott Government intent on removing the planned buffer zones in Casino to benefit coal seam gas miner Metgasco?

The Northern Star 26 September 2013:

CSG regulations in NSW have also come under pressure from outspoken new Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane, who since coming to office has gone from sympathising with opponents of the industry to calling for its urgent expansion - particularly in NSW - and referring to CSG activists as "anarchists".

The Minister has specifically cast doubt on whether the residential exclusion zones should apply to regional towns like Casino, telling Guardian Australia: "the bottom line is … it needs to be a buffer from major urban population centres not from hamlets, and the gas companies are saying the system in NSW right now is simply not practical or workable".

So is the Abbott Government going to further encourage the NSW Coalition Government to allow its draft buffer zone legislation to lapse?

Does Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane and Federal Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan intend to redefine this Northern Rivers county town (est. population 10,558) as a hamlet?

Will their NSW Government counterparts do more than display token resistance to any firm proposal to remove buffer zones from some regional towns and villages? 

This is Casino NSW from the air......

These homes and commercial buildings are part of Casino's streetscapes......

* Images found at Google Images and realestate.com.au

Metgasco CSG well "shot broken drill rods, methane and liquids skyward in the process of dying"

Echonetdaily 14 August 2013:

The recent dismantling of a coal seam gas (CSG) well adjacent to Casino airport could have been lethal after the explosive ejection of broken drill rods and methane into the air, it was claimed this week.

Mining company Metgasco says no-one was hurt during the well’s decommissioning late on Sunday, July 14, as safety equipment installed on the well to cope with such events had worked.

But Nimbin Environment Centre secretary Alan Roberts said the ‘explosion’ and loud noise as gas burst out under high pressure had alarmed surrounding residents, including those staying at a nearby motor-home park.

Mr Roberts, who is part of a group monitoring the decommissioning of 19 Metgasco CSG wells in the northern rivers, said that during the decommissioning of the well, ‘200 metres of drill rod and milling tool were ejected explosively’.

He said that a Metgasco official, when asked about the incident at the time, told him it was ‘normal to circulate some gas to the mud degasser in the process of killing the well’ and that he could ‘rest assured the well is now dead’ and workmen would ‘soon be running in to commence the abandonment operations’.

But Mr Roberts said, ‘Metgasco may consider it normal, but the well certainly did not, as it shot broken drill rods, methane and liquids skyward in the process of dying’…..

Casino Beef Week tarnishes its own brand

How does a Northern Rivers festival which has been in existence for thirty-one years this month tarnish its brand?

By continuing to allow this sponsor for Casino Beef Week:

http://www.casinobeefweek.com.au/#/program/4574871516

Having Stuart George as President of Beef Week and chair of its promotions committee at the same time he is employed by coal seam gas exploration and mining company Metgasco as its Community Relations Manager is a distinctly odd look, given this company has been widely rejected by Northern Rivers residents and the farming community.

This rejection appears to include a majority of the good people of South Casino according to a report in the Richmond River Express Examiner on 1 May 2013:

Federal Labor MP for Page announces funding for Casino Saleyards safety upgrade

Saffin announces funding for upgrade of Casino Saleyards

Page MP Janelle Saffin has  announced Federal funding of more than $600,000 for a major upgrade to improve safety at the Casino Saleyards.

Ms Saffin said the funding, under the Federal Government’s Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program. will mean much safer facilities for saleyard workers and truck drivers who transport livestock.

““There is a total of $636,000 in Federal funding along with $159,000 from the Richmond Valley Council for the upgrade at the Casino Regional Livestock Exchange.

“The funding is for the installation of double-deck delivery ramps, non-slip concrete pens and race floor and includes all-weather roofing along the yards and gates and lighting.  We can all appreciate how important these improvements are given our recent weather conditions.

“The issue of safety for saleyard employees and truck drivers has been raised with me by local councils, beef producers and the trucking industry in recent years, so I welcome the new funding.

“I was among a number of MPs from rural electorates who successfully lobbied for saleyards safety upgrades to be included in the Federal Governments Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program,” Ms Saffin said.

“I thank Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese for listening to the concerns from rural and regional Australia, and for responding to them by providing extra assistance.”

1 March, 2013

Office of Janelle Saffin MP
Federal Member for Page
Ph: 66219909