Residents of Merriwa heard of the impact of coal mining and coal seam gas extraction from speakers from Bunnan, the Bylong Valley, the Pilliga and Wybong last Thursday.
The information night, organised by the Merriwa Healthy Environment Group, was told of common themes such as little warning of coal industry movements, divide and conquer tactics with silence agreements, apprehension about rising land values and rates, and a feeling of lack of support from government.
“Merriwa can learn from the mistakes of landholders in other places,” the group’s president, Graham Brown, said.
“There’s been a major drop-off in agricultural production in the Denman area and we don’t want Merriwa to go the same way.
“It’s only through person-to-person communication that we are finding out the true extent of how we are being sold out, and how to fight back.”
More than 100 people attended the Merriwa public event but apparently no representatives of mining companies.
Contacted by the Hunter Valley News, AGL and Santos spokespeople said that they had not been invited to the meeting or could not attend on such short notice but were committed to community consultation.
“AGL currently do not have any plans to explore for coal seam gas in the Merriwa area. We welcome the opportunity to meet with the Merriwa Healthy Environment Group and to provide them with information,” an AGL spokeswoman said.
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