Valley Watch, a Clarence valley community organisation, has launched a petition requesting the NSW Parliament to:
* call a Royal Commission into all impacts of CSG mining;
* implement a moratorium on CSG mining until the outcome of the Royal Commission; and
* ban the extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing.
Valley Watch has formally joined the Lock the Gate Alliance in its campaign against Coal Seam Gas mining.
Interested persons can sign Valley Watch's petition at its stall at the Yamba Market on Sunday, December 11, or at the Yamba Wellbeing Centre which is upstairs at 4-5 Yamba Street (entrance via Wooli Street).
The wording of the petition is:
This petition of citizens of New South Wales draws to the attention of the House that Coal Seam Gas Mining (CSG):
· always involves contaminated water, as extraction of gas draws out of the coal seam water that is highly saline and can contain toxic and radioactive compounds, endocrine disruptors and heavy metals;
· when using hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), pollutes large quantities of fresh water with sand and chemicals that are pumped underground;
· is proved to lower the fresh water table, yet exploration licences have been issued in vital NSW water catchment areas;
· involves leaky wells, processing plants and pipelines that are a fire hazard and cause air pollution;
· risks a range of direct and indirect health impacts such as heart, lung, kidney and neurological problems and cancer; and
· produces greenhouse gas emissions – particularly from large scale methane leakage – such that CSG mining has a global warming impact that is as bad as, if not worse than, coal over a twenty year period.
The undersigned petitioners therefore request the House to:
· call a Royal Commission into all impacts of CSG mining;
· implement a moratorium on CSG mining until the outcome of the Royal Commission; and
· ban the extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing.
Images from clarencevalleywatch.com
UPDATE:
The petition can also be signed at Yamba Picture Framing, 6/12 Angourie Road, Yamba opp. the public primary school.
