Gas Watch 78 - AGL ENERGY - 'There is no requirement for us to listen to anybody'
Date: 16-Mar-10
Author: Hunter Valley Protection Alliance
AGL Energy - "There is no requirement for us to listen to anybody."
That was the answer given by the AGL local representative Siobhan Barry at the Community Consultative Committee meeting on 10th March, this year, when asked why the community wasn't able to have some input into the area of Petroleum Exploration Licence 4 which is required to be abandoned upon the renewal of that Licence on 17th February, 2010 - "There is no requirement for us to listen to anybody."
Makes you wonder why they come to the CCC at all if that is their attitude. The community wants to talk to AGL, but it also wants AGL to listen and contribute. But no. This appears to be indicative of the arrogant attitude of AGL Energy - Do what they want and to heck with the community - and this is the new Hunter Valley as a result of AGL Energy - 7 days a week, 11 hours a day:
Photo taken on 16th March, 2010 at Spring Mountain Vineyard, just near the vineyard village of Broke.
Beautiful vines in the foreground; State Forest and World Heritage listed Wollemi National Park in the background; precious fresh water reserves underground; arrogance to the forefront; as AGL Energy commences drilling the first of 8 exploration holes for which it recently received approval, without the Department allowing any community input or scrutiny - well the law doesn't allow it.
At risk is not just the visual amenity of the Hunter Valley, but the risk to the upper fresh water aquifers relied upon by the village and the farming community alike; let alone all the other risks of methane gas exploration including migration of gas to the surface killing vegetation and poisoning fresh water; let alone the possibility of having to dispose of millions of litres of toxic water.
Why this Company, AGL Energy, persists in drilling holes in the Broke and Bulga areas of the Hunter Valley, when there is very little surface area available to it by virtue of the buffers required at law, it is hard to fathom. Particularly when they have thousands of square miles available to them away from heavily settled rural areas.
And, because they still haven't answered the question about what they are going to do with the properties they have bought other than drill exploration holes and wells on them, we ask it again, as we have so many times before - perhaps we might get an answer this time:
OPEN QUESTION TO AGL Energy: Will your Company give an irrevocable, legally binding guarantee that neither a gas processing plant nor any other industrial plant (including a toxic water treatment plant) will be built on the land owned by you adjacent to the village of Broke or at Spring Mountain or at Bulga?
PO Box 120 Broke NSW 2330
www.huntervalleyprotectionalliance.com
March, 2010.
