Tuesday 28 July 2020, Walgett Shire Council was considering the letter DEG had sent to it in October 2019, asking it to exclude all coal seam gas activities from the LGA.

We had only found out by chance – after Council had put its agenda up on its website the day before the meeting.
Therefore we missed the opportunity to request to speak at the Open Hearing.
Local farmer Sonja Marshall had been contacted by a Councillor beforehand to say that her request to Council (to write a submission to the IPC re Narrabri Gas project) was being considered, so she was allowed to speak at the Council’s Open Hearing about why Council needed to write to the NSW IPC objecting to the project. Luckily we had some time before the meeting to lobby Councillors about DEG’s concerns for impacts on the Namoi River and groundwaters, harmful waste and other impacts on the environment.
The Councillors determined to object in writing to the IPC, on the grounds of “connectivity of groundwater that would be impacted and concerns about waste salt”. Council did not discuss DEG’s proposal, which was asking it to go one step further and ban CSG activities in the LGA (especially on its roads so that no trucks carrying salt waste would be travelling through the LGA for example).
DEG would appreciate Council agenda alerts about matters that concern us so we can provide Councillors with information and be put on agenda of Open Forums in future.