Gas Watch 73
Date: 20-Jun-09
Author: Hunter Valley Protection Alliance
AGL ENERGY
Buys wind farms in SA - but threatens the Hunter Valley with release of another fossil fuel and loss of groundwater.
With great pomp, amid claims of being environmentally conscious, AGL Energy this week announced the purchase of two wind farms in South Australia to produce electricity, but kept silent on its environmental threat to the Hunter Valley with its exploration for that fossil fuel it hopes will replace coal, methane gas.
The black underbelly of this claimed green company is the threat to precious water supplies as it careers forward drilling through water tables running the risk of contamination or loss of water supplying viticulture, agriculture and life in the Hunter Valley.
Ignoring the concerns of independent hydrogeologists; ignoring the advice of Senator the Hon Penny Wong; ignoring the advice of the Department of Environment and Climate Change, ignoring the damage occasioned to the environment in Australia and other parts of the world; AGL Energy, has announced it will continue with its exploration for this fossil fuel, methane gas, within a few hundred of metres of the villages of Broke and Bulga in the Hunter Valley.
Who is going to pay when the vineyards are gone, when the olive groves are gone, when the dairies are gone, when the tributaries to the Hunter River are gone.
Well the people of the Hunter Valley will pay with their livelihoods and lifestyles.
And how much will AGL Energy have to pay in these circumstances. Well you wouldn't think that its asset base would cover it.
How many millions of dollars does it take to compensate thousands of families for the loss of their business, their land value or their lifestyles; how many millions will it take to compensate for the loss of ground water, for the sterilization of land, for the loss of food crops.
I guess you wouldn't want to have too many shares in AGL Energy in those circumstances!
Save our groundwater. Save our environment. Save our kids.
Don't let AGL Energy onto your land. They can't buy it all.
PO Box 120 Broke NSW 2330
www.huntervalleyprotectionalliance.com
Ph: 6579 1062
