MORE than 250 people from across the region gathered in Narrabri on Sunday to show their ongoing opposition to coal seam gas developments in the area.
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At the centre of the event was the Santos Narrabri Gas Project in the Pilliga Forest.
The activists called on Santos’s new chief executive officer, Kevin Gallagher, to ditch the project, which they said posed unacceptable risks to their farmland, water resources and community.
People For The Plains spokeswoman Sarah Ciesiolka said the event was an opportunity to send a strong message to both Santos and the NSW government.
“We refuse to support the large-scale industrialisation of the landscape in the form of a gasfield here in the North West,” Ms Ciesiolka said.
“The reality is that coexistence of gas and agriculture is simply not possible, and we will not stand aside and witness the destruction of our land and our water.
“We’re now calling on the new CEO, Kevin Gallagher, to get Santos out of Narrabri before it brings more trouble to the local environment, the local community and to its shareholders.”
Ms Ciesiolka said 87 communities across nine local government areas had declared themselves “gasfield-free”.
They were joined by nine more communities, which declared their opposition at the event.
Event organiser Stuart Murray said door-to-door surveys had been carried out in each community, with an average of 96 per cent rejecting plans for gasfields in the North West.
“Our local communities have been unequivocal in our opposition to coal seam gas,” Mr Murray said.
“Our community-run door-to-door surveys clearly show that landholders and residents in the North West do not want to live in an industrial gasfield, and Santos has no social licence to operate here.”
