Mullumbimby Action Group -> thisweek -> dobeysbight

The Blight of Bobey's Bight A gas well next door at Casino

Stewart and Elaine Godwin (pictured) say their experience with coal seam gas   mining has made them very angry. “The drilling is the worst thing, and the generator. The drilling grinds and makes a whooshing noise like a jet coming up the road, it’s steel on rock.

“The noise is an unbearable throbbing. It gets right inside your head, a pressure that feels like it’s a brain tumour and makes your eyes water. It stays inside your head even when you go out for the day to get away from it, and stays there for months. “Sleep is impossible because they drilled several times for 3-4 weeks at a time, all day and all night, it’s torture. “ This is happening 16kms from Casino near Stratheden, at Dobies Bight, hidden out of view from the main road, where people can’t see or hear  what’s going on.

“One well is 210m from our front door, the second is 1.5km away, and it feels like the drill goes horizontally straight under our feet, the whole house shakes, even the fans. “ It took 30 B-double trucks to gravel the site, as well as all the clanging and banging of pipes. One neighbour tried to build a wall to stop the noise, but of course that didn’t work.

“The gas plumes are as high as the roof of our house and the sky is sometimes red with the glow. Also it’s a big wind area here and when it comes up we’re very scared that it’s going to get away.
“Metgasco put banks of floodlights on their fence facing our house, they’re on constantly and so bright that you could mow the lawn at night.

“You’re all alone, no one helps you, we tried the government, police, EPA, Metgasco, Thomas George, Council, Barry  O’Farrell, but no one listens. “Peter Henderson from Metgasco has never bothered to come to hear the noise and see what it’s like. “The people who have wells and dams on their land are benefiting from all this, but there’s nothing for us. People should be sued for damage caused to adjacent properties. “We moved to the country for the peace and quiet, and now we’ve got nothing, nothing. We’re stuck with this for life, we’ll never be able to sell.

by Mandy de Vries
Article and photo coutesy Nimbim Good Times