THE Greens have released poll results showing 68 per cent of Australians support a moratorium on the coal seam gas (CSG) industry until the full health and environmental impacts are known.
The Galaxy poll comes just two days after the Greens introduced a bill into federal parliament to increase the right of landowners to have a greater say in CSG explorers moving in on their properties.
Member for New England Tony Windsor will introduce his private member’s bill to the House of Representatives on September 12, which, if passed, would safeguard prime agricultural land and water aquifers from mining and gas drilling.
“I think this survey really demonstrates the strength of opinion here in the Australian community about the risks with coal seam gas, and the need to press pause until we have that full information,” Greens Senator Larissa Waters told reporters in Canberra yesterday.
“When there are so many unanswered questions, we need a moratorium at both the federal and the state levels.
“And clearly, that’s what the majority of Australians want on this dangerous and risky industry.”
The push for a moratorium is a commonsense approach, according to Moree Plains Shire Council mayor Katrina Humphries, who says there is widespread opposition to the impact coal seam gas extraction could have on valuable land in the Moree district.
The NSW government announced a ban on toxic chemicals and a moratorium on fracking (hydraulic fracturing) at the end of last month.
The 60-day moratorium for all coal seam gas operations ended on July 23, with no more fracking being approved until the end of the year.
The use of BTEX chemicals – benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes – as additives during coal seam gas drilling was banned, along with the use of coal seam gas evaporation ponds.
Ms Waters has called on both major parties to support the Greens’ bill, and on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to “stick up for landholders and stick for Australia’s ability to feed itself into the future”.
The Galaxy national poll of 1048 people, conducted last weekend, found that two in three Australians supported a moratorium, 18 per cent opposed it and 13 per cent were uncommitted.
“The idea of the moratorium is popular across all demographic groups and all states of Australia,” Galaxy said.
As well, 70 per cent believed CSG mining should be prohibited in cities and towns.
NSW Farmers’ Association president Fiona Simson wants three documents – the Aquifer Interference Policy, Agricultural Productivity Impact Assessment and the Strategic Land Plan – for each region to be finalised before the industry is given the go-ahead.
Another important document, the Namoi Catchment Water Study, which is assessing coal seam gas mining’s environmental impacts, is due to be finalised in March 2012.
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