I live only 13 kilometres from this lovely town, which is the garden market of western Melbourne. We buy most of our fresh produce along the Avenue of Honour.
However, trouble is afoot. Coal mining and Coal Seam Gas, no less.
Whilst I heard about this horrible news awhile ago, but I thought that it wouldn’t come to anything, and that our state government couldn’t be that stupid as to grant an exploration licence for fossil fuels in our area.
Here is the description from the video;
“Bacchus Marsh locals are concerned, and with good reason.
Mantle Mining have an Exploration License (EL) which includes Bacchus Marsh and 386 km2 of the surrounding area.
This license is for both open cut and coal seam gas mining with an estimated 1-2 billion tonnes of coal targeted for export.
Join our community where we look at the risks, the issues and the people of beautiful Bacchus Marsh.”
http://www.mooraboolmeg.org.au
http://quitcoal.org.au
I fully support this community action of No Coal in the Marsh!
Oh Gavin, it is so sad. I wish that everyone in government could really see what we see . Are we so smart that we know more than all these government departments or do they really just not care?
exploration all around us where I live – and all I get from a conversation with most is – oh it probably will not happen for a long time and also the other most popular comment of how great it will be that their property is worth more. Idiots is the only word that comes to mind.. thinking of you and your fellow community members that are in for the long fight…
@Wendy: Here in the States, proximity to a fracking well actually destroys property values, and can make it very difficult if not impossible to sell or for a potential buyer to get a mortgage. Insurance companies have come right out and said they won’t insure properties because the risks from fracking are just too varied and very difficult to quantify. I can’t imagine that it would be any different in Australia. By far though, the biggest concern is contamination of ground water. The industry paints a very rosy picture of how safe it all is, but there are plenty of folks in Pennsylvania who beg to differ. So far, here in NY, a very strong anti-fracking movement has managed to keep the frackers out, but the governor has said he’ll make a final decision before the next election.
It’s just disgusting. Fossil fuels are an antiquated, filthy technology. We can do better. But the profiteers want the status-quo and have the money to buy the politicians to ensure it.
The New York Times did an excellent series of articles on the whole fracking issue, called “Drilling Down”. The dealing with property values is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/us/rush-to-drill-for-gas-creates-mortgage-conflicts.html
The whole series can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/DRILLING_DOWN_SERIES.html?_r=0
Here in Northern NSW you may have heard about our reprieve for the moment from csg. Lots of action with local groups against gas, Lock the Gate Alliance and blockades consisting of local residents, farmers, people from all walks of life coming together. Its not over yet but the companies who wanted to explore up here have given up for now until the election anyway. This could be the biggest election issue in September. Joy