Sydney Park screening of Gasland to warn residents of AGL plans to drill for coal seam gas in their neighbourhood

Try striking a match under running water coming from a kitchen tap. You don’t expect that it will burst into flames, but that is exactly what happens in some American suburban homes that have gas drilling operations nearby.

St Peters residents opposed to gas mining in their suburb are screening the documentary Gaslands with this startling footage in Sydney Park, at sunset on Saturday, February 5.

Last year the NSW Government approved exploratory drilling for coal seam gas (CSG) in St Peters, drawing widespread criticism because of the lack of knowledge on the risks involved.

The State Government gave Apollo Energy, now owned by AGL, permission for exploratory drilling with no public consultation. The Department of the Environment has no role in the licensing process.

Sydney Residents Against Coal Seam Gas started their campaign last year with a packed public meeting in Petersham soon after plans for gas mining became public.

They organised a rally just before Christmas in Sydney Park, about 350 metres from the first known drill site with more than 400 people attending to protest the planned drilling near their homes.

A spokesperson for the St Peters residents’ action group Glenda Evans said the gas drilling plans were incomprehensible.

“I can’t believe that the NSW Government has really licensed oil exploration companies to drill for dangerous substances like methane in the middle of a densely populated area,” Ms Evans said.

“This is the gas that killed those poor miners in New Zealand last year. There is no way that any the members of parliament would put up with it in their backyards. Do they really hold our health and well-being in such contempt?”

The action group is planning a door knocking campaign over the next couple of weeks to explain the issues and dangers to residents who have not heard about the oil industry plans.

“No way is coal seam gas a ‘green’ energy alternative. It produces more greenhouse gases, while endangering land and water. This is even worse when the process of ‘fracking’ – pumping toxic chemicals and water into the land to cause mini earthquakes to release gas – is used,” Ms Evans said.

Sydney Residents Against Coal Seam Gas are calling for an immediate moratorium on gas exploration in the Sydney basin, and under any towns, water catchment areas, farmland and other environmentally significant areas.

“What we are fighting here, farmers in the Hunter Valley and in Queensland are also fighting. We need real renewable energy alternatives – not secretive and dangerous CSG mining under our homes, parks, and communities,” Glenda said.

Gasland shows the effects of gas mining in the US where it has caused land degradation and poisoned water supplies, to the point where the film shows a resident who can set fire to the water running from his kitchen tap.

The community screening of Gasland will take place at Sydney Park, corner of Euston and Campbell Sts, St Peters, from 7pm on Saturday 5 February for a sunset screening. The residents group will provide a sausage sizzle before the film starts about 8 pm.