Lock the Gate Alliance

Date: 16-Dec-11
Author: Barrington-Gloucester-Stroud Preservation Alliance

Below is the text of a Media Release issued today.  Thanks are due to all those in other communities fighting their own coal and CSG battles, who have assisted at the blockade or have sent messages of support.  

AGL will not willingly agree to the community's demands for an independent water study and we expect to have to do this all again next year.

Graeme Healy
Chairperson
Barrington-Gloucester-Stroud Preservation Alliance

MEDIA RELEASE

AGL will today begin the process of mothballing the site of its proposed coal seam gas exploration drilling south of Gloucester.  Access to the site has been blockaded for the past twelve days by local landholders who have been demanding that AGL cease its drilling program until the results of an independent water study of the Gloucester Basin have been completed and presented to the public.

 "Now that equipment is being withdrawn and the site vacated, there is no longer a need to maintain the blockade" said Barrington-Gloucester-Stroud Preservation Alliance spokesperson, Graeme Healy.

"There will be a party at the blockade site on Saturday evening to celebrate the decision by AGL to defer its exploration drilling program and vacate the site, and the blockade will be pulled down on Sunday."  

"It is expected that site stabilisation will take a couple of days to complete and this work will be done under the watchful eyes of Alliance observers."

"While we are happy that AGL has publicly committed to defer its exploration drilling program until after the outcome of a court challenge and further water studies (Note 1), the company has not yet agreed to the independent water study demanded by the community."

"AGL has agreed to enter into negotiations with the Alliance over the terms of a water study but we are adamant that it needs to be fully independent to have credibility. We are not going to accept greenwash or another round of hollow community consultation."

"Landholders have long been calling for an independent hydrogeological study of the entire Gloucester Basin because it is particularly vulnerable to environmental damage by gas extraction because its complex pattern of geological faults and shears creates an exceptionally high risk of gas migration and water table damage."

"We expect to commence discussions with AGL in the new year."

Note 1: http://www.agl.com.au/

(go to ‘About AGL' then ‘ASX and Media Release')