Mullumbimby Community Action Network

Originally published 18Nov2012

mullum-zine

Mullum CSG Meeting 28 NOV 6pm

Newsletter 114
18 November 2012


Greetings!!


MULLUMBIMBY PUBLIC MEETING: 28 November 6 pm
Council Chambers. Come early to get a seat!
See Mullumbimby NSW Facebook page for copy of the flyer.

Last week Crs Simon Richardson, Duncan Dey and Rose Wanchap put in an urgency motion for BSC to oppose the application for ‘prospecting" by NSW Aboriginal Land Council. Details of the prospecting ad are in last newsletter, dated 14 Nov. http://www.mullumaction.org/index.php?cat=newsletters&nldate=1352926221 and comments can be made at http://www.resources.nsw.gov.au/community-information/comment/titles

If you want a copy of the prospecting ad email ‘contact us" http://www.mullumaction.org likewise if you want a copy of LOCK THE GATE TWEED Michael McNamara"s press release about the absurdly unfair submission process.

Any submissions about the prospecting ad need to be about prospecting/exploration, and not about production (ie the actual mining process). This is tricky. Michael McNamara will be speaking at the meeting with advice about making a submission; due 5 December.
He will also be giving a special meeting for LOCK THE GATE – TWEED at Murwillumbah Civic Centre at 6pm Tues 27 Nov for community members affected by the application for a Special Prospecting Authority, which includes us in Mullumbimby, south almost as far as Bangalow, and north up to the Tweed.


FUGITIVE METHANE EMISSIONS

See ABC"s 7.30 Report: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-14/study-suggests-coal-seam-gas-dirtier-than-industry-claims/4372410
And
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/methane-leaking-from-coal-seam-gas-field-testing-shows-20121114-29c9m.html
Google "Condomine River Drew Hutton" if you want to see it bubbling up. Methane is colourless, odourless and tasteless, so its hard for most of us to register.



SAVE THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS OFFICE


PLEASE!! Sign petition http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/nsw-government-save-environmental-defender-s-office-edo-nsw?utm_campaign=action_box&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=share_petition and see last Friday"s 7.30 Report on ABC about EDO (not yet on iView).



MAIN ARM DECLARATION DAY

Yesterday at Durrumbul Hall, (mudbrick, built by community about 30 years ago) the first of our local neighbourhoods had their ceremonial presentation of Gasfield-Free Declarations being handed to the Mayor, Simon Richardson. Simon gave a heartwarming speech in acceptance of the certificates, in a suitably ageing handmade basket. Young children were included in the ceremonial pouring of water from each district into a specially big goblet, which was then used to water a tree planted for the occasion. Rain dampened the day"s festivities, but not the spirits of the people. A most delightful occasion, soon to be released on Youtube, no doubt.

NON-VIOLENT DIRECT ACTION TRAINING
As part of our continued commitment to Non-Violent Direct Action there is important training coming up and we urge you to attend if you can. This training will cover important principles of nonviolence and will also include practical components of keeping calm under pressure.
8th December Bangalow Catholic Hall 1pm – 4pm
Contact Amica Sanday 66803 230



COAL SEAM GAS IDOL

CSG Idol will be held on Thursday the 29th of November at the Italo Club in Lismore and we are seeking entrants and performers (who needn't be entrants)! Please see the attached poster. Tickets at Gleanings in the Star Court Arcade. This event will raise funds to put some much needed work into csgfreenorthernrivers.org website and communications systems so that we can effectively reach even more people. Please come and bring all your friends!! One doz Tix $10 available at Mullum public meeting 28 Nov.





GASFIELDS BUS TOUR

If you want first-hand experience, consider going on this tour of the Queensland Gasfields


BRIDGING THE DIVIDE BUS TOUR
By Stop CSG Fracking Brisbane
Saturday, 8th December - Wednesday the 12th of December
Depart Roma Street, Brisbane - 7am, Saturday, 8th December

Cameby Downs/Miles – Saturday 8th
Wandoan - Sunday 9th Dec
Tara via Chinchilla – Monday 10th
Cecil Plains - 11th Tuesday
Acland - Wednesday12th
Return - Wednesday, 12th December

BYO Bedding
Cost $120 (food included)
If you have special dietry requirements please, BYO

Please contact
Annette Hutchins
Mobile: 0406654626
Email: annette.hutchins999@gmail.com


BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL
Please contact
Annette Hutchins
Mobile: 0406654626
Email: annette.hutchins999@gmail.com

A Deposit of $50 is required to book your seat. Full payment required one week prior to departure.

Please label with your name and send to the account below;

Account name: StopCSG Brisbane
Heritage Bank

BSB: 638 070
Account number: 12789550


And just one more thing to whet your appetites!


Natural Gas Drilling Produces Radioactive Wastewater
Wastewater from natural gas drilling in New York State is radioactive, as high as 267 times the limit safe for discharge into the environment and thousands of times the limit safe for people to drink
ByAbrahm LustgartenandProPublica


WASTEWATER FOUNTAIN: Natural gas drilling in New York State could introduce unsafe levels of radiation into the drinking water.Image: FLICKR/JOSHME17
As New York gears up for a massive expansion of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, state officials have made a potentially troubling discovery about the wastewater created by the process: It's radioactive. And they have yet to say how they'll deal with it.
The information comes from New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation, which analyzed 13 samples of wastewater brought thousands of feet to the surface from drilling and found that they contain levels of radium 226, a derivative of uranium, as high as 267 times the limit safe for discharge into the environment and thousands of times the limit safe for people to drink.
The findings, if backed up with more tests, have several implications: The energy industry would likely face stiffer regulations and expenses, and have more trouble finding treatment plants to accept its waste-if any would at all. Companies would need to license their waste handlers and test their workers for radioactive exposure, and possibly ship waste across the country. And the state would have to sort out how its laws for radioactive waste might apply to drilling and how the waste could impact water supplies and the environment.
What is less clear is how the wastewater may affect the health of New Yorkers, since the danger depends on how much radiation people are exposed to and how they are exposed to it. Radium is known to cause bone, liver and breast cancers, and the EPA publishes exposure guidelines for it, but there is still disagreement over exactly how dangerous low-level doses can be to workers who handle it, or to the public.
The DEC has yet to address any of these questions. But New York's Health Department raised concerns about the amount of radioactive materials in the wastewater in a confidential letter to the DEC's oil and gas regulators in July.
"Handling and disposal of this wastewater could be a public health concern," DOH officials said in the letter, which was obtained by ProPublica. "The issues raised are not trivial, but are also not insurmountable."
The letter warned that the state may have difficulty disposing of the drilling waste, that thorough testing will be needed at water treatment plants, and that workers may need to be monitored for radiation as much as they might be at nuclear facilities.
Health Department officials declined to comment on the letter. The DEC sent an e-mail response to questions about the radioactivity stating that "concentrations are generally not a problem for water discharges, or in solid waste streams" in New York State. But the agency did not directly address the radioactivity levels, which were disclosed in the appendices of the agency's environmental review of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, released September 30.
The review did not calculate how much radioactivity people may be exposed to, even though such calculations are routinely completed by scientists studying radiation exposure. Yet the review concluded that radiation levels were "very low" and that the wastewater "does not present a risk to workers." DEC officials declined to explain how they reached this conclusion.
Although the review pointed to a possible need for radioactive licensing and disposal for certain materials, and it looked at other states with laws aimed at radioactive waste from drilling, the DEC said there is no precedent for examining how these radioactive materials might affect the environment when brought to the surface at the volumes and scale expected in New York. And it said that more study is needed before the DEC can lay out precise plans to deal with the waste.


Hope the storms have left you high and dry.
I wonder about all the wastewater on builder"s plastic-lined evaporation ponds – see the Lock the Gate DVD available at our public meeting.

LET"s GET ACTIVE

NOT RADIOACTIVE

Cheers
Deb


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More Information:
• http://www.csgfreenorthernrivers.org/
• http://coalseamgasnews.org/
• http://www.keerronggassquad.org/
• http://www.gasileaks.com/
• http://lockthegate.org.au/
• http://www.stoppilligacoalseamgas.com.au/
• http://www.scenicrim.qld.gov.au/coal-mining-and-coal-seam-gas
• http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/coal-seam-gas-by-the-numbers/
• http://stop-csg-illawarra.org/
• http://www.ccag.org.au/
• http://bimblebox.org/
• http://ntn.org.au/
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Women-Against-Coal-Seam-Gas/214606121987465
• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=561260378#!/CsgFreeNorthernRivers
• http://www.youtube.com/user/csgfreenr/videos