Federal member for Page Kevin Hogan has spoken in Parliament today stating his continued opposition to CSG in our region.
Mr Hogan told Parliament he came to the conclusion that CSG was inappropriate for Page after he visited Chinchilla in Queensland in January 2013 to spoke with community members about the impact of the industry there.
“I tried to envisage what the industry would look like in my region,” he said.
“I could not see how the industry could work without being extremely invasive given the nature of our topography and small land owning. It would be exceptionally detrimental to neighbouring properties.”
Mr Hogan said he was “extremely disappointed” by the last month’s decision by the Supreme Court to overturn the State Government’s suspension of the Metgasco licence.
“Last year I applauded the action of my state colleagues to suspend Metgasco’s drilling programme at Bentley,” he said.
“There were 6000 to 7000 people willing to stop a drill going onto a property in my area. A thousand police would have been needed to get that drill on to the land because of people’s concerns about the impact of the CSG industry.
“I am extremely disappointed by the decision of NSW Supreme Court to squash this suspension. I have spoken to my state colleagues and they are looking for avenues to appeal this decision. They are also looking to buyback Pel 445.”
Mr Hogan said apart from concerns about air and water quality, he was worried about the industrialisation of the pristine landscape of the Northern Rivers by CSG which would be exacerbated by our small land holdings compared with Chincilla.
“My community has spoken. I have listened and I will do whatever I can do to support my state colleagues in anything we can do to keep the Northern Rivers Coal Seam Gas free,” he told Parliament.
