THE TWEED www.tweedecho.com.au Volume 3 #36 Thursday, May 19, 2011 PAGE 12 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280
[email protected] [email protected] CAB 21,000 copies every week AUDIT LOCAL & INDEPENDENT Thousands march against CSG mining Luis Feliu nounced a moratorium on fracking. One of the keynote speakers at More than 3,000 people voiced their the rally was Queensland farmer outrage against coal-seam gas (CSG) Drew Hutton, the president of the mining on Saturday at Murwillum- newly-formed national Lock the bah in one of the biggest rallies ever Gate Alliance which is taking action seen in the Northern Rivers. to stop drilling for CSG in southern The controversial ‘fracking’ method Queensland. used to extract underground gas by Mr Hutton said hundreds of farm- the CSG industry has tapped a raw ers in the area where coal companies nerve among the many protesters, were actively exploring for CSG had including farmers, families, environ- joined the alliance and ‘locked the mentalists, Aboriginal elders, tourism gate’ on mining company representa- operators, and blue and white col- tives wanting to explore or negotiate lar workers, who have united against for drilling rights. what they see as the biggest threat to He said some of the ‘most coura- Australia’s environment. geous’ of all protesters were the people A long colourful stream of protest- of the Tara estate where the CSG pipe- ers waving placards and chanting line is being built under their homes, anti-CSG slogans stopped traffic as as some of them had been arrested by they snaked down the town’s CBD police as a result of the blockade.