suspending some!, page-53

If big companies like Santos, AGL and Dart can't influence the government on this issue, why would a tiny company like Metgasco do so any better. I think Henderson's hands were tied and he has acted to preserve the asset and live to fight another day. Its the only hand he has and he has been forced to play it. There is a political dogfight going on right up to the federal election whether its held in September or before. MEL and its shareholders are the collateral damage. It looks to me like O'Farrell and Newman have been requested to make themselves small targets by Abbott during the run-up to September whilst the Greens are cynically using CSG to prise another Senate quota off Labor.

But beware of what you wish for, I would say to the jubilant farmers in the Northern Rivers. These new Federal regulations will ultimately affect all water usage and users in rural areas and then you will hear the screams. If all new mining is required to provide baseline data on groundwater as part of their exploration and drilling license applications, its going to pull in truckloads of data about existing water users and it wont be a very pleasant picture

Think about this: according to NSW Agriculture data, there are 1647 unremediated cattle tick dip sites in the Northern Rivers alone, each one riddled with massive concentrations of arsenic and DDT (estimated at approx 50 kgs DDT at each site). In Byron and Lismore alone, there hundreds of unapproved or non-complying septic systems located within 100 metres of a watercourse and to which local councils are turning a blind eye. Large scale intensive farming including feedlots, poultry and piggeries all impact on our groundwater and river systems. Not all producers have been as careful as they should have been with their waste treatment systems as chemicals, anti-biotic find their way into our creeks and rivers.

So by all means lets have the baseline data on mining impacts on our groundwater including aquifers. However once implemented against one industry, the Greens will use these new water regulations against the rural and farming sector to devastating effect. If in doubt, just ask the Byron horticultural community and the impact of the new E-zones on their land usage.