FIRST it was koalas, and now it’s a mouse getting behind the fight against coal and gas mining in the northern region.
Yesterday the Wilderness Society Newcastle and a Pilliga mouse delivered an invoice for $6000 to Environment Minister Robyn Parker’s office.
The invoice represents what it cost environmental groups to uncover polluted coal seam gas water being discharged into the Pilliga Forest.
By comparison, gas company Santos will have to pay two $1500 fines imposed by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) this month for the pollution.
Prue Bodsworth, from the Wilderness Society Newcastle, said it should not be up to environmental groups to pay for water testing of coal seam gas discharges.
The EPA failed to collect a water sample in the three years polluted water was entering Bohena Creek, she said.
“The Pilliga Forest is home to threatened species like the koala, the squirrel glider and the Pilliga mouse – found nowhere else in the world,” Ms Bodsworth said.
“It’s an internationally recognised important bird area and its creeks flow into the Murray
Darling Basin.”
Northern Daily Leader
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