Comment/Letters
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CSG: the divided community of Tara
Iris Ray Nunn
The other Monday, a crew of us from the northern rivers were taken on a tour of the Kenya coal seam gas (CSG) fields. This mine is situated roughly between Tara and Chinchilla in Queensland. Our guide was Dayne Pratzky, a man passionately sharing his concerns about the far-reaching problems associated with ‘fracking’ our country’s coal seams. In one day we saw firsthand the multitude of issues caused from the presence of the CSG industry – from mining vehicles monopolising the roads to seriously stressed residents who fear for their lives. We made jokes around the fire that night about Tara, being like the ‘wild west’, but really, living in a gas field is no laughing matter. One couple who helped a neighbour blockade his property for three months can no longer go to the local supermarket because of constant harassment from pro-miners. This same couple had been protesting in Miles two nights before and had shots fired off in their direction. Witnessing the Condamine River bubbling like a spa bath was very disturbing. Government officials report it is a naturally occurring phenomenon, but it
Brisbane hospital twice due to respiratory failure. The cause? Unknown. The link between Tara residents’ illnesses and heavy metal toxicity from fugitive gas emissions caused by coal seam gas mining has yet to be officially made. As we experienced here in the northern rivers, the protesting, blockading and rallying has delayed activities in some instances in Tara, Cecil Plains, Miles and Chinchilla. Iris Ray Nunn and Jarmbi Githabul sit by the But unlike here, it has not debubbling Condamine River in Tara. terred the mining companies. doesn’t take the bitter taste of methane in They plan to have 40,000 gas wells in the back of the throat to know that there is Queensland in the next 20 years. nothing natural about a river bubbling like With more pressure on the government an experiment in a chemistry lab. from concerned individuals in the growMeeting Marion Palmer, the salt-of-the- ing CSG free social movement countryearth mother of nine, also had a deep im- wide, it is just a matter of time before our pact on me. This courageous woman speaks fellow Australians on the Darling Downs from her heart about her struggles to be are given the care, concern and respect taken seriously by the Queensland govern- that they deserve by those who have the ment in regards to her children’s constant power right now to stop CSG. nose-bleeds, skin rashes and headaches. I held her smallest infant, Ruby Rose. Q For more information on how you can Her eyes were red and watery (and not help, contact Iris at irisray@hotmail.com from crying). Ruby has been airlifted to a or 0417 937 720.
a park with picnic shelters and trees for the use by the public? Of course not, I must be dreaming, Council needs all the money they can get to fill Jo Maiden those potholes. North Ocean Shores Terry Newling Mullumbimby Q With Council having to subdivide the Roundhouse site Q There has been much talk and sell off land to build up the about the budget and how coffers, there is still no mention much money we don’t have. of a sale of the sleeping ex-Tele- Well, I would like to put this com site in Station Street, Mul- idea out to the promoters of all lumbimby. This little gem was the festival sites. Byron Shire residents would purchased by Council, seemingly in an overnight panic, as cordially like to ask all the proWoolworths was being built. moters of festivals to have portCouncil seemed to have no able toll gates at the entrance to your ticket checking and every problems with money then. For all the time since, the person on entry puts in a dolsite has been lying dormant lar every time they walk onto with the buildings deterio- your site. It’s like going over rating, while the Council has the Harbour Bridge. This could maintained an erratic mowing then be collected by a council program to keep the weeds at security guard and taken to the bay around the cracked con- bank. It is claimed that over crete paving. What a sight for visitors, right where everyone 100,000 people visited passes to head for Woolworths the Bluesfest; if so there is or to bypass Burringbar Street $100,000 for Council’s coffers. These toll gates can be stored at to head west. Why not convert the site to the council depot and brought From previous page
able amount of money going? Why are we selling community land to pay for essential services?
tonnes of carbon emissions, meaning 15 million tonnes of CO2 is created annually from food waste alone. Also, thanks for appreciating that in one kilogram of beef, 50,000L of Kathy Norley water is wasted; and instead of South Golden Beach contributing it to our overflowing tips, allowing me to take it
out for each festival. As the big promoters are using the Byron name and all that that conjures up to visitors, it seems only fair that they give something back. What do you think, Byronians?
Thanks for caring
I’d just like to say thank you to all the conscientious business owners out there who have had the forethought each day to leave their bins unlocked, so that after dark I may collect what groceries I need. Thank you for understanding that if we dug through the overwhelming four million tonnes of food Australians waste each year, we would discover a rancid ignorance – not only concerning the two million Australians who reported going hungry last year, but also the 800 million people starving worldwide. Thanks for your magnanimity, Mr Business Man; I know the environment is certainly stoked you’re aware of how one tonne of waste can generate 3.8
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The Byron Shire Echo May 7, 2013 13