Paul Benedek addresses the 'Stop coal seam gas' rally outside NSW parliament on March 15. Photo by Peter Boyle.
Farmers, environmentalists, irrigators, winemakers, horse breeders, the NSW opposition, and coal seam gas (CSG) campaigners have all been angered by the NSW Coalition government's new land use plans, which give the go-ahead to CSG and coalmining across the state.
Despite Premier Barry O’Farrell’s pre-election promise that key agricultural land would be protected from mining and CSG activity, the government's draft Aquifer Interference Policy and draft Strategic Regional Land Use Plans "have left the gate open", said the NSW Farmers Association.
The government has “chosen to literally sell the farm to coal and gas companies", said Lock The Gate Alliance president Drew Hutton on March 6.
The Hunter Wine Industry Association’s Andrew Margan told the March 7 Sydney Morning Herald he was “embarrassed to be a New South Welshman” and that winemakers believed “co-existence [with mining and CSG] is not possible”.
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The Green Left Weekly
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