A deputation of Cecil Plains farmers has urged the Western Downs Regional Council to mirror its neighbouring council's decision to call for a moratorium into new coal seam gas approvals within its local government area.
The deputation, consisting of Liza Balmain and Glen Ogden, was given five minutes at the council's monthly meeting last Wednesday, where they asked that a precautionary principle be enacted to provide time for more comprehensive research to be done into the impact of CSG activity in the Condamine alluvium.
"We support the Toowoomba Regional Council's decision to write a submission to the state government asking for ongoing and meaningful engagement with landholders regarding CSG extraction across the region," Ms Balmain said.
Toowoomba's councillors voted unanimously for the motion, which has gone in to the Department of Resources' consultation paper, originally open until December 8 but now extended to December 15.
Mr Ogden said the difference between the two deputations had been stark, saying they'd been given 45 minutes at the Toowoomba meeting to explain their position, followed by questions, whereas at Dalby they had five minutes to state their case, and no questions could be asked.
"I was quite blunt, I wanted to leave an impact," he said.
"I think they were a bit shocked, because it was new information for them.
"I said they would be negligible if they didn't research this latest CSG drilling plan.
"Dalby is very susceptible to any impacts on the alluvium - there's no other water source.
"There's the weir when the Condamine River runs, and a bore.
"There's only a few alluviums in Australia that are used for irrigation and town use, and this is one."
Mr Ogden said they had originally been invited to speak at the Toowoomba meeting when the council had an event in Cecil Plains asking for issues impacting the community.
"We told them CSG was coming back, and we thought the whole thing was rushed," he said.
"Then we thought, after Toowoomba, we'd probably need to speak to the Western Downs council - we thought they were probably not aware of the impacts, yet it's the town most susceptible to the drilling that's planned."
He said past decisions suggested the latter council wasn't fully appreciative of its water resources, using water buybacks as an example, saying that while irrigators' reductions were in the order of 50 per cent, the town's allocation remained at 100pc.
"I don't think they know how vulnerable they are," he said.
Mr Ogden said he and others weren't trying to change CSG access to every other resource in the state, but they felt there was a lot to lose with the proposal for directional drilling around the Condamine alluvium.
The son of a windmill expert at Augathella, Mr Ogden said the one thing that kept him awake was fearing what might happen to the underground fresh water resource.
"It's really scary, there's no knowledge of directional drilling - we don't know how it works," he said.
"In 15 or 20 years, we'll be seeing the connectivity, and that will be the beginning of the end.
"We need allies like councils to protect us, the state government's just not there."
Western Downs mayor Paul McVeigh was contacted for comment but had not responded.
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
