The campaign to stop CSG set out to target all MPs… and the tide is beginning to turn.
Ryan Park and Lee Evans
- an immediate moratorium on all CSG projects;
- a royal commission into the full impacts of CSG;
- and an immediate ban on fracking.
There is now more than enough evidence that CSG mining brings problems. Quite simply, it’s just plain common sense to show caution when it comes to water, health and the environment.
Signing the petition is consistent with the broader political consensus emerging from more structured reviews of the potential risks of CSG mining. These include the recommendations of the Senate enquiry into the Murray Darling – which calls for a thorough review and a halt to further approvals – and policy positions of the Greens and Labor supporting a moratorium.
We welcome this support – and call on other MPs across the state and the NSW Government to follow suit.
The question now is: what will Ryan Park and Lee Evans do to have these changes implemented?
Given a new CSG well was approved in his electorate on November 21 – and in an area designed to protect the quality of drinking water for more than 4.3 million people – we call on Lee Evans to take action to match his declaration of support and put a motion before parliament to freeze all CSG activity.
UPDATE 13 December 2011: Lee Evans has since backtracked, claiming he “does not necessarily agree with the objectives of the petition”. An ‘interesting’ position, given that he spent an hour discussing the issue with a Stop CSG organiser before putting pen to paper.
