Protesters gatecrashed a mining and exploration conference organised by the NSW government yesterday, abseiling off the balcony of a Sydney hotel to unfurl a banner against coal seam gas.
About 20 protesters from Newcastle-based climate change activist group Rising Tide stormed the NSW Minerals Exploration and Investment conference. They were ejected. Two more were arrested after abseiling off the balcony of the Sofitel Wentworth Sydney hotel, where the conference was held, to unfurl a banner reading, "Enough is enough! Stop coal and gas expansion".
Greens upper house MP Jeremy Buckingham, who has introduced a bill in state Parliament to put a 12-month moratorium on the coal seam gas industry, convened a protest outside the conference which attracted about 100 farmers and residents from mining-affected communities, The Australian Financial Review reports.
Exploration in the Liverpool Plains by Shenhua Energy, BHP Billiton and Santos, which is prospecting for coal seam gas, has met resistance from local farmers, who attended the protest yesterday.
Santos energy projects general manager Andrew Kremor said there had been no change in aquifer levels in the 14-year history of commercial CSG production on the company's Fairview field in Queensland.
Email a friend