Coal Seam Gas (CSG)The Bentley Blockade, Northern Rivers NSW 

2014- ongoing....

Below is a carousel of images pertaining to the Bentley Blockade

Coal Seam Gas (CSG)

Over 25% of NSW is covered by Petroleum Exploration Licences (PELs).  From 2008 both exploration and production projects were given the green light, despite evidenced risks, insufficient research and growing community concern about this industry. Repeated calls by community groups, environment groups and the farmer’s organisations for a moratorium on the coal seam gas industry to allow for comprehensive scientific investigation and analysis of the threats posed by the industry were been ignored by government until a successful seven year campaign was won at Bentley NSW, with a moratorium being placed on CSG mining in NSW  in 2014.  

The Northern Rivers community in general was overwhelmingly opposed to gasfield industrialization at Bentley. In a community run survey, 84.5% of Bentley locals voted to have their lands and roads Gasfield Free. In a council poll in 2012, 87% of Lismore residents voted “NO’ to CSG.”

 Coal Seam Gas mining licenses  and leases existed across the Northern Rivers. The local farmers, landowners and families opposed the mining due to the hazardous chemicals that could leach into the soil and ground water due to fracking

What is fracking?    Click to view

Coal seam gas mining involves drilling deep into the earth to extract methane (a greenhouse gas) held in a coal seam. In order to extract the gas, large volumes of salty water contained in the coal seam need to be brought to the surface. This water is the major waste product from coal seam gas mining. Methods used to extract the gas include hydraulic fracturing or lateral drilling.  

Both of these methods represent risks to groundwater such as:

• The underground impacts of highly toxic fracking  chemicals entering our ground water or aquifers.

•  Coal seam gas mining has severe surface impacts as it requires large numbers of wells to extract the volumes of gas that are sought (in Queensland in 2010/2011  18,600 gas wells were approved). Along with gas wells come roads, pipelines, tracks, compressor stations and water storage ponds – which altogether results in an industry which spreads out across the landscape and carves up rural landscapes into giant industrial zones.

• By the end of  2015 CSG in QLD had been linked to many respiratory health problems being reported by people living close to the mines, along with  an alarming increase in cancers diagnosed in people who lived close to CSG mines across Australia and  in USA.  In 2016-2018 more reports of  health problems arose in relation to CSG mines. 

People across the country joined the Lock the Gate Alliance in  peaceful anti- CSG protests to call for their governments to transition to renewable power instead of Coal Seam Gas.   Victoria placed a moratorium on new mines in Victoria as a result of anti-CSG activists, farmers, scientists and doctors working together to successfully lobby their state leaders. 

More CSG Mining Risks:

There is mounting evidence that CSG mining poses substantial risks,  including:

         •      Depletion and contamination of underground and surface water systems and supplies

         •      Lack of any safe method of disposal of the large quantities of polluted wastewater brought to the surface in the extraction process;

         •      Leaking of methane from wells and pipelines and off-gassing of volatile organic compounds from wastewater storage and compressor stations;

         •      Human and animal health impacts from air, water and soil pollution;

         •      Loss of agricultural land and native vegetation from the large surface footprint of CSG operations; and

         •      Risk of seismic activity from fracking and aquifer re-injection.

Lock the Gate Alliance & Gasfield Free Northern Rivers

The Bentley Blockade was co-ordinated by  Gasfield Free Northern Rivers, and the Lock The Gate Alliance.

The aim of the anti-CSG movement was to protect the biodiversity, water resources, agricultural lands and sustainable industries of the Northern Rivers, and the livelihoods and well-being of the people who live here, from the impacts of coal seam gas (CSG) and other forms of unconventional gas mining. The objective was to have the Northern Rivers region declared a CSG and unconventional gas free zone, and for all existing licenses and leases that allowed such activities to be revoked.

Activists gathered in the thousands at any proposed mine site, community meetings were held, rallies attended, letters written and those that locked onto cars and refused to move were arrested at Glenugie, Bentley and Doubtful creek in Northern NSW. The Community were successful in  lobbying the government to buy back the mining license from mining company Metgasco.

 Listen here: to this audio clip  to hear how activists who fought off coal seam gas exploration on the New South Wales north coast are sharing their successful formula with communities across the globe facing their own environmental battles.

Northern NSW activists Brendan Shoebridge, Simon Clough and Ian Gaillard traveled to the UK in 2017 to provide training in non-violent protest planning and methods, and to screen the documentary The Bentley Effect. Watch here

The trio were leaders in the Bentley Blockade — the culmination of seven years of protests in the Northern Rivers region that resulted in thousands of people setting up camp on a cattle farm earmarked for gas exploration.

The Bentley Blockade ended when the NSW Government suspended a gas exploration licence in the area. In October 2015 the Government bought back a petroleum exploration licence covering more than 500,000 hectares across the region. Mr Simon Clough, the former deputy mayor of Lismore, said he always knew the Bentley movement could be replicated in other communities.

"I felt very strongly that the Northern Rivers had a lot of resources and skills which were not so evident in other communities and we almost had a responsibility to do the best we possibly could in order to inspire and be of use to other communities in Australia and overseas," he said. "Every drop of water that went into that campaign in terms of every person's input was important. That involved our relationship with the police, the fact we were able to work with a broad section of the Northern Rivers community, people who had been and still were members of the National Party, people who were more on the environmental activist fringe, and everyone in between."

COVID-19  (2020) events have seen the national government consider lifting the NSW and Victorian moratorium on Coal Seam Gas mining....

 According to the Guardian on 23 March 2020, Scott Morrison hand picked a group of business people to lead the response to covid-19 with the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) being formed  while simultaneously suspending parliament. While Australia was dealing with mass disruption, job losses and the fear of a pandemic the PM put a bunch on unelected business people from the fossil fuel industry in charge. In March 2020  Scott Morrison’s coronavirus committee said 'our future was to be gas- fired not renewable'. Some people ask: is this a surprise when the committee is lead by Nev Power, a mining executive who is still a director and major shareholder of Strike Energy…. a gas company with substantial exploration permits. Nev power is being paid $267,345 by the Australian tax payer for six months work so he and Scott Morrison’s mining mates can profit while Australian communities bare the brunt of climate change long term and we see government employees like police, nurses and teachers get denied a pay increase and the liberal government making a 60 billion dollar mistake in covid-19 funding…"The leadership position of Power, a former chief executive of mining group Fortescue Metals, on the NCCC has raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest because the commission has heavily promoted gas development as a key way to boost economic growth after the coronavirus crisis. The Guardian Australia revealed a leaked draft report by a taskforce advising the NCCC recommended Australian taxpayers underwrite a massive expansion of the domestic gas industry." ( The Guardian newspaper May 23 2020)

Lock the gate alliance turns 10 this year (2020) This is their update: 

https://www.lockthegate.org.au/10th_birthday_celebration?utm_campaign=eofy_blast_2020_non_bigpond_2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=lockthegate

Ten years ago, in small country halls across rural Australia, people were gathering. 

Gathering to discuss the challenges of unchecked mining for coal and coal seam gas. To talk about ways landholders and communities could work together in the face of these massive threats. 

And the idea of locking the gates to mining companies was born.   

What a time it’s been! Small gatherings became organised groups and alliances across regions and states. People just like you, bravely standing up to destructive mining projects. 

Together, we’ve built this Lock the Gate movement into one of the most important social movements our country has ever seen.

Despite our memorable successes, the onslaught of devastating coal and gas projects continues - and so must our work!

We are up against it. Right now, Santos’ massive CSG project in North West NSW is in the final approval stages. Abundant farmland around Bundaberg is in the sights of coal miners. Gas fracking company Origin Energy wants to push back into the Northern Territory despite strong local opposition.  

We know times are tough for many as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. More than ever we need to protect our food growing ability and precious clean water. 

Fracking by Australian states LINK