LIVERPOOL Plains Shire Council has voted to take a stand against expired petroleum exploration licenses.
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Councillors unanimously voted to oppose coal seam gas and request expired Petroleum Exploration Licences 1,12 and 452, which cover the area, be extinguished.
The council also voted to acknowledge that the NSW Planning system does not provide satisfactory consideration of the environmental and economic costs to the community from coal seam gas exploration and development.
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The motions come after local landholders lobbied the council in November to follow the lead of councils such as Moree Plains and Dubbo, which took similar stances on the zombie PELs earlier in the year.
Put forward by councillor Virginia Black, the motion comes after Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall lead the calls for the state government to extinguish all zombie PELs.
"We have had several meetings with local concerned farmers and members of the community regarding coal seam gas," Cr Black said.
"Recently, we've had several well-informed people present to the council their concerns regarding land degeneration and the very-real impacts of water contamination as a result of coal seam gas.
"The Liverpool Plains farming community is a tight-knit entity and they are banded together by shared experiences of environmental hardships and economic insecurity.
"We as a the council body for our community have an obligation firstly to listen to their concerns, as we have done to date, and secondly to actively support our community on this very serious issue."
Quirindi landholder Peter Wills said it was a landmark moment for the shire.
"After many years it's great to see the council come out with a strong position against coal seam gas," Mr Wills said.
"It is also good to see them lobby the government to extinguish those PELs."
Mr Wills said the council's decision was proof of the "groundswell of opposition" to coal seam gas across the state.
"From here we just have to keep up the pressure on the government," he said.
"We've seen the groundswell of anger that can come from landholders when the government tries to dictate land terms and it seems like it is the case again this time.
"If the government wants to continue to ignore the clear opposition then that's up them."
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
