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A SLOW but rising tide of protest is surging in the Great Lakes in response to AGL’s preparations for fracking four coal seam gas (CSG) wells for monitoring, in the neighbouring shire of Gloucester. 

A call to arms for last Tuesday’s CSG forum saw a change of venue when RSVPs climbed towards 200. Initiated by concerned Tuncurry father Craig Andrews, the evening featured guest speakers from Groundswell Gloucester, Manning Clean Water Action Group (MCWAG), economist and farmer Bruce Robertson (renowned for his successful fight with Transgrid), and Gloucester farmer Ed Robinson, the reluctant but determined host for Gloucester’s protest camp (approved by Gloucester Council last Wednesday). 

A show of hands from the mainly 50-plus age group proved that many were there to learn more about the CSG process, which is consistently making mainstream media headlines. 

“I came because I wanted to find out why CSG mining is so much more controversial than conventional mining,” said Firefly local Laura Pennington. “I wanted to understand what all of the fuss is about.”

The main concern surrounded the safety of the water supply in the Manning and Karuah catchments which, if compromised, would be almost impossible to fix. The four pilot wells verging on being ‘fracked’ stand within the Avon River catchment, which flows into the Manning River from where MidCoast Water sources its water. 

MidCoast Water is recommending that AGL limit any discharges of appropriately treated water into the Avon to periods of high flows and high rainfall, and rely primarily on farming irrigation instead.

 “Our focus now is on making sure controls are put in place to mitigate any impact on water quality in the Manning Valley,” said MidCoast Water’s general manager Robert Loadsman.

Whilst opinions in the room over local councils’ and MidCoast Water’s role in the CSG debate was divided, it was made clear that none had any regulatory power on the issue. Responsible for providing up to 80,000 people with clean and healthy water, MidCoast Water was originally excluded from the approval process but had to push to become involved.  Whilst the water board acknowledges the risk of potential impact, they say that the risk to shallow aquifers is low. The scale and likelihood of water contamination is still being determined however, and they are keenly monitoring the results of three independent studies. 

It was small consolation for some. Jai Allison, 32, a water engineer who grew up in the Manning, was concerned. 

“By the time the impacts are felt in that groundwater, it will be too late. It’s a risk process, and you can only judge risk from experience. If there is no data, it’s easy to say there is no problem.  They are scraping the bottom of the fossil fuel barrel,” he said. 

Groundswell Gloucester’s vice-president David Hare-Scott took the audience through the history of the project warning the community that it is not going to be an easy fight.

 “If a company is blocked by law, the government changes the law,” said Mr Hare-Scott. “This is getting serious.”

Peter and Caroline Davidson from the Upper Myall had felt compelled recently to visit the AGL site to become more informed. 

“We just had to. We’d heard too much about it. I’ve now stuck my hand up to organise the rosters for AGL’s five gates. They need more people,” said Mr Davidson. 

Another local, Gaye Tindall, wrote to the Advocate the following day. 

“Having attended the public meeting last night on AGL's imminent destruction of our beautiful Mid North Coast region with coal seam gas wells, I call on everyone to become aware of what lies ahead for us.  The Mid North Coast is about to take a beating.  Write to State and Federal MPs now.  We can't let this happen.”

As  the meeting wrapped up, the audience was urged to bring the CSG question to the next election and take a stand by talking about it, supporting the protest at Gloucester, and have their economic voice heard by changing electricity providers to those who have no stake in CSG extraction.

“Because there ain’t no cavalry coming,” urged Chris Shead. “It’s up to us.” 

Whilst the forum did not include AGL, the company's website stresses that their gas wells and monitoring systems are well placed to ensure that none of their activities harm the local water supplies. 

AGL's more detailed response to the concerns raised at the forum will be featured in next week's Advocate.