New England MP Tony Windsor has backed the blockade of a Santos coal seam gas exploration site at Spring Ridge on the Liverpool Plains.
Landholders and residents, he said, are protecting their environment from Santos’ move to proceed with “pilot production” of coal seam gas before the results of the Namoi Catchment Water Study are known.
Mr Windsor wants Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke to be more involved in the process.
“People are losing faith with the process and Santos is walking away from the Namoi Catchment Water Study,” the MP said. “This is a pilot production well not a water monitoring hole.
“I am calling on Minister Burke to take a more pro-active role in this debate rather than hiding behind the State-based processes.
“The Minister can’t keep arguing that the Murray Darling water issues are critical and then stand by and allow extractive activity to take place on the Liverpool Plains prior to the release of the Water Study that his government has part funded,” Mr Windsor said.