More than twice as many local people reject the proposed CSG industry for Narrabri in north west NSW than embrace it, a new gas industry research paper has found.
GISERA has released its Community Wellbeing and Local Attitudes to Coal Seam Gas report, which reveals that 30.5% of Narrabri local respondents reject the proposed Narrabri Gas Field outright, while 14.8% embrace it.
“These results reflect what we are seeing on the ground, that the coal seam gas industry is not welcome in the north-west of NSW,” People for the Plains spokesperson, Sally Hunter, said.
“This research paper shows what we’ve known for a long time, that twice as many people reject the CSG industry as embrace it.
“Across the region, communities have gone door to door to survey people across more than 3.5 million hectares. We’ve found that 96% of people do not want to live in a gasfield. Letting coal seam gas into our region would put at risk our most treasured assets: our water, social fabric and rural character.
“More than 300 people came out to the Pilliga last weekend send a clear message: those who depend on the land and groundwater know the risks of CSG are not worth it.
“People from all walks of life made a human sign in a sandy creek bed in the Pilliga State Forest to demonstrate that the CSG industry does not have social licence here.
“There were almost 23,000 responses to the Environmental Impact Statement put out by Santos earlier this year and 98.7% of these opposed the project. Of the 499 local submissions, 319 rejected the industry.
“No matter how you dice the apple, it’s clear people do not accept the risks of CSG. There are plenty of less damaging ways to create jobs, and far cheaper and cleaner ways to get energy.”
GISERA report in full available at: https://gisera.org.au/news/nsw-research-measures-community-wellbeing/