Two women in their forties were arrested in the Pilliga forest of North West NSW this morning standing in the way of a truck convoy of Santos coal seam gas drill rig equipment. Santos was using a police escort to move the controversial drilling trucks through the forest in response to ongoing and escalating protests in the forest over the past week.

A woman remains locked to the underside of a truck in a stand-off at the site of Santos’ coal seam gas exploration site in the Pilliga forest, in North West NSW.

Two dozen farmers, Gomeroi Traditional Owners, local community members and supporters have risked arrest to blockade a coal seam gas drilling rig in the Pilliga forest in north west NSW this morning, saying too much damage has been done by Santos and calling for the Government to intervene to stop the controversial exploration program.

Lock the Gate is urging Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce not to bow to pressure from Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane and abandon the interests of farmers across NSW fighting inappropriate mining on their land.

The call comes after media reports that Mr Joyce was backing away from a commitment to ask Premier Barry O’Farrell to revoke two Petroleum Exploration Licences over farmland near Gunnedah.

Preliminary construction work on the controversial Maules Creek coal mine has been stopped for the second time this week, as local residents and supporters blockade the site. Around 20 protesters are at the site and they have immobilised eleven machines with a pole structure that has a person attached at its peak. Entrances to the site have also been blocked.