This video produced by The Ecologist tells the stories of yet more people who are losing out so that gas corporations can continue to profit from America’s gas rush.

You’ve got to realise that the vast majority of people here think it is wonderful. They think there will be jobs, they’ll be able to keep their families here, they’ll be able to pay for education. But we find, as you’ve seen when you talk to people, that all is good on paper, but when things happen that ruin the value of your property and ruin the health of your family, that all goes out the window. – Ralph Kisberg, campaigner.

Read the report that accompanies this video over on The Ecologist website.

“I was arrested today for exercising my First Amendment rights to freedom of the press on Capitol Hill. I was not expecting to be arrested for practicing journalism. Today’s hearing in the House Energy and Environment subcommittee was called to examine EPAs findings that hydraulic fracturing fluids had contaminated groundwater in the town of Pavillion, Wyoming.” Josh Fox

Josh Fox is now prolific for his work to highlight the stories of Americans who’ve been affected by the rise of the unconventional gas industry and in particular the technique of hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) to stimulate gas flow. His 2010 documentary, Gasland, was a devastating blow to the industry. Fox is currently working on a sequel.

Further from Fox’s statement:

As a filmmaker and journalist I have covered hundreds of public hearings, including Congressional hearings … This was an act of civil disobedience, yes done in an impromptu fashion, but at the moment when they told me to turn off the cameras, I could not. I know my rights and I felt it was imperative to exercise them. [...]

…I will state that many many Americans get their news from independent documentaries. The hill should immediately move to make hearings and meetings accessible to independent journalists and not further obstruct the truth from being reported in the vivid and in depth manner that is only achievable through long form documentary filmmaking.

The decision of Republican committee chairman Andy Harris to have Fox arrested is indicative of ongoing attempts from the industry and its allies to silence the voice of opponents.

This from The Guardian:

Josh Fox was ejected from the hearing, on drinking water contamination and fracking, on Wednesday after Republicans objected to having cameras in the committee room.

He was later charged with unlawful entry by Capitol Hill police and ordered to appear in court on 15 February, he told the Guardian.

The confrontation with Fox came as the Environmental Protection Agency released more than 620 documents in support of its finding that fracking had contaminated the drinking water of a small town in Wyoming.

Fox and his crew did not have Hill press credentials, although he had requested permission to film before the hearing.

He said: “It was clear they were blocking us and it was not the first time they were blocking us.”

Zach Carter writing for Huffington Post notes it is unusual for journalists to be turned away from covering hearings:

…turning away journalists is extremely rare on Capitol Hill. The rules requiring pre-approval for film crews are designed to prevent hearings from being disrupted by hordes of camera operators. That was not the case for this hearing. Only two cameras requested entrance to the event, which was not crowded.

And here is the video of the interaction between Fox, the Committee and the Capitol Hill police:

When just talk doesn’t cut it, you show people why they need to care. In the words of Calvin Tillman, Mayor of Dish, Texas, “Once you know, you can’t not know”.

The Hon. GREG PEARCE: [...] I thank [Jeremy Buckingham] for providing me with a copy of GasLand, which I will watch with some interest.

From NSW LC Hansard June 2 2011.

We discovered a few things during the trip, as we made our way through regional NSW and QLD. Like that Moonee is home to the world’s largest feral pig collection. And that George is not only an excellent bus-driver but also most entertaining, playing the harmonica and leading games of ‘Hey cow!’ (whereby one shouts at a cow, and recognition earns you a point).

However, perhaps most importantly, the long journey interstate let us rediscover the natural beauty that exists in our own backyard. We were able to appreciate the land that the people in Tara, and beyond, are fighting to protect.

The tiny town of Tara, about 300 kilometres west of Brisbane, is on the frontline of a resource war. The community is putting up a big fight to save their land and water from ruin at the hands of Queensland Gas Company (QGC), part of the British Gas group.

George and Mira look at the route we took to arrive into Tara.

Rural landowners have been staging a people’s blockade on the Tara residential estate to protect their homes and health from coal seam gas (CSG) mining.

Though it is not just the community in Tara that is going head-to-head with the gas companies. Gas drilling is already happening across NSW and Queensland, with little or no environmental assessments or community consultation. Our state governments regularly approve further coal seam gas projects.

That’s why Lock the Gate, an alliance of concerned individuals and communities from all over Australia, decided to host the Rock the Gate festival, campaigning by day and music by night, encouraging people to keep their gates locked against the gas companies.

Before the festival’s opening session, local-land owner Dayne Pratzky led a bus tour to the Tara residential estate, giving visitors an opportunity to see first-hand the situation facing his community.

Land cleared and dug up to lay pipe lines to carry gas.

We saw gas wells hidden amongst scrub, wide stretches of bushland cleared to lay pipelines, noisy compressor stations, and heavy trucks and bulldozers using local roads to access sites.

“That’s the destruction for [just] 5 wells,” said Pratzky.

In a video filmed recently to document operations in Tara, Lock the Gate said that QGC wants to put 200 gas wells, spaced 400 metres apart, on the Tara estate, which is home to around 500 people.

We visited the property of one landowner who is legally contesting QGC’s right to access his property.

Bus tour arrives to check out the situation at one local land-owners property, QGC security alongside.

QGC have 24-hour security at the property. The security worker on site when we visited said he was based in Brisbane and worked seven days on, and seven days off.

QGC had a second security worker filming our presence on site, despite our tour having permission from the landowner to access his property.

A third QGC security vehicle arrived at the property as we were boarding the bus to head back to the showground for the festival opening.

These are tactics that Tara locals have become used to since the gas company moved in.

Despite this sort of intimidation and the evidence of land destruction, the promise of supposed prosperity in the form of dollars and jobs has meant that there are some divisions amongst the Tara community.

Some residents have already been bought out and moved on, leaving their neighbours with the battle against gas wells surrounding their property.

But other Tara landowners are staying put, with nowhere to go. Or in Pratzky’s case, they are staying with the principled motivation to stop Tara becoming a gas field.

“Why am I fighting the gas company? Because what they’re doing is wrong,” he said.

Drew Hutton opens the Rock the Gate festival.

Back at Tara showground, the acting president of Lock the Gate Alliance Drew Hutton opened the festival saying: “Welcome to all those who’ve come a long way. Let me assure you, there’s gas coming to you soon.”

Unfortunately, Hutton was not joking.

“Our land, our water, our future, that’s what we are fighting for,” he continued before introducing some of the local campaigners, people he said have stood up when leaders have failed us.

Amongst those whose efforts Hutton praised were wildlife campaigner (and father of the late Steve) Bob Irwin, 70-year-old recent Tara blockade arrestee June Norman, and member of Friends of the Earth Cassie McMahon, who recently locked on to a bulldozer at the Tara blockade.

Leigh McNeill, a 65-year-old rural landowner, told the hundreds gathered at the festival opening that he loved his land and wanted to be able to use it to feed future generations.

“My concern [with] the coal seam gas industry is if it is not controlled.”

McNeill said the industry should be adequately regulated to ensure the “biological integrity and capacity of land to produce food is not compromised”.

“That’s why I’ll be locking my gate,” he said.

“And I won’t be unlocking it until the coal seam gas industry can convince me that it’s environmentally safe.”

McNeill’s support for stronger regulation, rather than calling for a ban on the industry, reflect the diversity of those involved in the campaign against coal seam gas mining.

This campaign has busted the stereotype of anti-mining protests as merely the realm of dreadlocked, chai-sipping hippies.

That’s not to say there are none of those types of activists represented in the campaign. There certainly are — the Nimbin Environment Centre even bought their chai tent to the festival.

But the difference is that in this campaign, seasoned environmentalists from Nimbin stand alongside rural-land owners (with a severe aversion to chai) like Pratzky.

NGO’s including Friends of the Earth, Six Degrees, and The Wilderness Society are involved in the campaign too, as are The Greens, the Queensland Party and the Socialist Alliance. Even National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce made an appearance at the festival.

Represented also are independent concerned citizens and community groups who have never been involved in activism or lobbying, and probably thought they never would be.

The coal seam gas industry threatens to destroy not only bushland, but vital agricultural land. It threatens to poison and waste water supplies, pollute the air, and infringe on land rights.

“We shouldn’t forget that the Queensland government is letting gas companies do this,” said Hutton.

Two popular workshops held during the festival were on legal rights for landowners, conducted by the Environmental Defender’s Office, and the non-violent direct action session with Newcastle’s Rising Tide.

Hutton explained during a discussion on effective campaigning that this strategy of resistance is central to the campaign against the gas companies. The most effective form of protest, he said, is that of peaceful civil disobedience and respectful non-cooperation.

Another Tara landowner, Scott Collins, from the Western Downs Alliance, spoke to festival-goers of his experience on the frontlines of the Tara people’s blockade. Those protesting the gas company had experienced intimidation from the police, he said, with the Tactical Response Unit even hiding out in bush close to the picket line.

The heavy police presence on the Tara estates is difficult to miss.

Local land-owner Dayne Pratzky briefs the group before the day of action.

On the final day of the Rock the Gate festival an action took place at the Kenya QGC work site near Tara.

Those taking part in the action were briefed before leaving the festival by the local campaigners who had led the work against the gas companies in Tara so far. They emphasised the importance of treating QGC workers and the police with respect at all times during the action.

Rock the Gate crew arrive at the gates of Kenya QGC work site.

A convoy of cars and buses left the showground and arrived at the work site for a brief blockade of the gates. The blockaders sung anti-coal seam gas songs, appropriating popular tunes such as “Hit the Road Jack”.

The singing was accompanied by people playing guitar and beating on plastic drums. Even a piano accordion was on-hand.

Action at the gates of "Kenya" QGC worksite.

Bemused QGC workers looked on and police attempted to break-up the musical blockade. With plans to take part in the nearby Chinchilla May Day march, our convoy of cars and buses left the site after the brief action.

While receiving a warm welcome from many locals along the march route, Rotary officials that organised the May Day celebrations denied the anti-CSG Lock the Gate group access to the Chinchilla May Day event.

May Day Parade: Chinchilla locals wave as the Angel warns of dangers of CSG.

Rotary eventually said we could attend if we ditched the placards and material that warned against coal seam gas mining. The decision was made to head back to Tara.

It was later revealed that QGC were major financial sponsors of the Chinchilla May Day. The irony of corporatisation of May Day was noted in a media release penned by Lock the Gate.

May Day at Chinchilla: sponsored by your friendly "local" gas company.

As the sun set that evening over the Tara showground, people gathered around a fire in a drum, it was the last night of festival for most.

The Nimbin crew brewed chai and projected photos of the day’s action onto a white marquee.

The musicians in our midst wrote songs together.

Optimism was buoyed as a news article about the day’s action was read aloud.

People laughed at an angry letter that had been letterboxed locally. All in capital letters, it alleged those protesting the gas companies were a greater threat than the gas drilling itself. It urged the community to protest the protesters and included the phone numbers and home addresses of local campaigners like Dayne Pratzky, Scott Collins and Drew Hutton.

This behaviour came as no surprise to Collins who had earlier in the festival noted that the “town is dividing, and that is exactly what the gas companies want”.

Not disheartened, we discussed where to next, and those remaining made plans for the next day’s action. The festival was over for us, but Tara’s blockade continues.

The next morning we boarded the big blue bus and readied ourselves to bid our farewell to Tara and the campaigners who are now our allies and friends.

Our final stop was a QGC worksite that was home to a piece of machinery known as a spider trencher (used to clear land and lay pipes), one of only two in Australia, locals said.

It was to be moved from a QGC site on one side of the road to the other side. The aim of the day was to stop this from happening. However, the law is on the side of the gas companies. Anyone obstructing gas company work risks a $50,000 fine.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the QGC boss known affectionately to the Tara blockaders as “Barry the letter reader” (for his role of reading the letter to protesters to advise them QGC felt they were an obstruction and if they failed to move on they would face that $50,000 fine) turned up. The police were out in force too. It was time for us to leave.

We boarded our bus and pulled up across the QGC work site gates to say our goodbyes to those left on the picket. Gas company security and police rushed to warn us off. We waved goodbye through the windows and shouted “Lock the gate” as our bus pulled out of Tara and begun the 12-hour drive back to Newcastle.

Taking a break from driving, George picked up his banjo — for some of us the parallel with Gasland’s Josh Fox was obvious. For George, it was likely unintended.

American gas corporations have exerted an enormous PR effort in an attempt to discredit Gasland, the documentary that shed light on problems of gas mining in the United States.

Gasland in particular looked at the issues associated with the technique of gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’. Fracking involves a mixture of water, chemicals, and sand being injected at high pressure into the gas well to open up the coal seam (or in the United States, the shale deposit) so that the gas is able to be extracted more easily. The movie linked this practice to a number of environmental and health risks.

As the gas industry takes off here in Australia, the science has begun to back-up the concerns of the banjo playing anti-gas campaigners.

A recently released peer-reviewed study by scientists at Duke University in the United States has confirmed some risks associated with gas drilling.

“[A] scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire,” Propublica.org said on May 9.

And so the battle that has put rural and city communities alike up against giant multinational gas mining corporations continues. Follow updates from the people’s blockade of the Tara residential estate here.

Written for Green Left Weekly.

The film was introduced by Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne who said “This movie is a great opportunity for us in the inner-west to see the US example of what can happen. We don’t want it here. We can stop it. It’s going to take a lot of community and grassroots campaigning.”

A BBQ picnic was enjoyed by members of the local community who spent time before the screening sharing information on the mining of gas and discussing plans for local exploratory gas drilling in a nearby residential part of Sydney’s inner-west. The license to allow exploratory drilling covers most of greater Sydney and was granted to Apollo Energy by the NSW government with no public consultation.

The screening was supported by the City of Sydney and Palace Cinemas, and was organised by Sydney Residents Against Coal Seam Gas (SRACSG), a community group established to oppose plans for exploratory gas drilling in St Peters.

Speaking at a screening of Gasland during the 2010 Sydney Film Festival, City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore explained that the film was one “examining the darker side of the natural gas boom” and that the film “reminds us of the importance of stewardship of the land, rather than continual exploitation.”

However, the City of Sydney’s plan for a sustainable energy future is to use a method of energy production known as trigeneration, with a view to 70% of the City’s electricity being generated this way by 2030. Trigeneration burns natural gas, a fossil fuel consisting primarily of potent greenhouse gas methane, to produce energy.

Written for Green Left Weekly.

Note: To get involved in the the campaign against gas mining in Sydney, please email me.

Natural gas will account for 33% of Australia’s primary energy consumption by 2030, compared with 8% from renewables, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE).

The approval process for major gas projects has come under scrutiny from the Greens. NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann referred to the NSW planning department’s process of application approval as a “rubber-stamping exercise”, said the November 19 Sydney Morning Herald.

Applications for gas exploration in NSW can be approved without an environmental impact statement. These are required only if the planning minister deems them necessary, given the minister’s powers under the Part 3A law.

The Part 3A law was passed in 2007 and grants the planning minister complete control over all aspects of the approval process for projects such as gas drilling. Breaches of environmental and heritage laws can be disregarded and there are no grounds for legal challenges.

When Frank Sartor was NSW planning minister in 2007, legislation was also changed to allow petroleum and gas exploration in state conservation and drinking water catchment areas.

Ironically, given his record, Sartor has since gone on to become the minister for climate change and the environment.

Similarly in Queensland, applications for major project gas work are submitted to the Department of Infrastructure and Planning (DIP) where the coordinator-general decides if an environmental impact statement is needed.

This is comparable to the loophole that exists in the US whereby natural gas drilling does not have to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act under an exemption granted by the Bush administration in 2005.

In Queensland, there are eight projects awaiting approval from the DIP, including proposals for the liquefaction of coal seam gas to produce liquefied natural gas.

In NSW, 16 gas projects are currently lodged with the planning department and 12 gas projects have been approved this year, including expansions and amendments to current projects.

In the Illawarra region of NSW, 15 coal seam gas bores for commercial production were recently approved under Part 3A. Nearby residents were not told and three bores have already been drilled.

The NSW department of mineral resources requested that the 2009 Local Environment Plan rezone Sydney Catchment Authority lands west of the escarpment to permit coal seam gas production.

The unelected state government-appointed administrators at Wollongong City Council complied.

A confidential letter between Apex Energy and Peabody Metropolitan Coal was leaked by community activist Natasha Watson. It detailed the plans for the 15 bores, and to build a gas-fired power plant.

Watson found the letter online, buried in an indexed series of more than 100 planning documents and approvals across the Illawarra.

None of the plans had been disclosed to residents, so Watson leaked the plans to inform the community.

She told Green Left Weekly: “Approval was also sought and given by the Sydney Catchment Authority and Wollongong Council, however while Apex’s Part 3A was displayed for one month on the Department of Planning website. Their only consultation with the region’s community was the Darkes Forest land owners who’s approval on leases was required.

“Coal seam gas mining, with its insidious threat to the aquifers of our land, wide land clearing and the hideous required infrastructure, will be disastrous.

“The government state and nationally appear to be racing to approve and extract as much gas as possible before the foretold environmental risks and destroyed farmland are actualised.”

One document, dated August 6, showed that Apex Energy and Peabody Metropolitan Coal colluded to begin mining for gas under the Sydney water catchment.

The letter acknowledged that damage to the environment from coal seam gas mining was anticipated and that public attention was unwanted.

“Peabody”, the letter said, “would rather not be directly involved with any surface problems which may be brought to the attention of the Sydney Catchment Authority or other Landowners, and that any public attention not be to the detriment of their underground coal mining activities.”

The letter details an agreement to keep Peabody’s name out of potential bad publicity.

It went on: “Following the public scrutiny of the application for extension of the Metropolitan Colliery (now approved), and the problems they have had due to surface water disappearance and land subsidence, Peabody is very sensitive to having their name associated with any further resource development project … lest it attract unnecessary attention and further aggravation.

“Apex’s preferred position is also not to have Peabody (Metropolitan) directly associated with the gas extraction / commercialization operations.”

In response to these statements Jeff Angel, executive director of the Total Environment Centre, told the September 23 SMH: “The company admits its longwall mining plan in the protected Sydney water catchment was controversial and then moved to disguise its involvement in gas drilling.”

Angel also pointed to a broader exclusion of the public.

“What makes it even worse is that the Department of Planning was complicit in agreeing to remove the gas drilling from the Metropolitan mine impact statement which protected the company from bad publicity.”

New planning minister Tony Kelly told the September 23 SMH: “The department understands Apex had discussed the matter with Peabody prior to arriving at this decision. However, this was entirely irrelevant to the department’s assessment of either proposal.”

There is community concern that a controversial technique known as “fracking” could be used at a site near Warragamba Dam, now under application from Apex Energy to begin drilling in early 2012.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves blasting a mixture of water, sand and other chemicals deep into the ground to fracture the bedrock and release coal seam gas.

Fracking to extract coal seam gas has been associated with contaminated drinking water in the US. But the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) dismissed the threat on October 26, saying “the risk of contamination of groundwater is minimal” and fracking “has been used safely around the world for more than 50 years and in Australia for several decades”.

Fracking is now carried out in Australia in places including a Camden site run as a joint venture between AGL and Sydney Gas Limited, sites near Mackay run by Arrow Energy and in the Bowen basin at sites run by Bow Energy.

Origin Energy in the Surat Basin in Queensland has also used the technique.

Despite concern from the community, environmental groups and the Greens, the NSW department of industry and investment has not stopped fracking. It recently allowed fracking at a site near Lismore, run by Metgasco.

The current approval process for gas projects must be overhauled and a ruling must be made against fracking, or concern will only intensify as gas is used more as a fuel to generate electricity.

Mining companies, and local, federal and state governments, position it as a cleaner energy source than coal.

Some environmentalists consider it to be a “transition fuel”, while we develop renewable energies.

In an address to the Bow Energy Limited AGM on November 22, company secretary Duncan Cornish said: “Putting a price on carbon is high on the political and social agenda worldwide, including Australia, and this will result in increased demand for lower carbon emitting fuels such as natural gas.

“This is already resulting in gas-fired electricity generation trending from supplying peaking demand towards intermediate and ultimately base-load electricity generation.”

Carbon emissions from burning natural gas are lower than coal, but it is still a non-renewable fossil fuel.

Emissions and damage to the environment can’t just be measured at the point of power generation.

Watson told GLW: “Drilling, stimulating more methane production, and the huge waste of potable water, and then the resultant toxic waste water is far too great a price for the power produced.”

In addition, methane comprises 87% of natural gas, some of which is released into the atmosphere during mining and transportation. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, 20 times as potent as coal.

Climate science shows that the world needs a new approach to stationary energy — one that acknowledges the science and uses society’s resources to give us a chance at a safe climate future.

A recent report from the German Advisory Council on Global Change revealed that, to have a 67% chance of keeping global warming to less than 2°C higher than pre-industrial levels, the US would need to move to zero emissions or below in 10 years. The same follows for other rich countries with high per-capita emissions, like Australia.

In Australia, transitioning with gas comes with unnecessary risks, damage and emissions. The technology exists to make an immediate switch to 100% renewables.

Research by the University of Melbourne Energy Research Institute and Beyond Zero Emissions shows Australia could meet all its stationary energy needs from 100% renewable sources within 10 years.

Burning gas creates carbon emissions, and expanding gas as a fuel source means building outmoded infrastructure that commits Australia to another carbon polluting technology.

Josh Fox, director of Gasland, a documentary about the impact of coal seam gas mining in the US, told the November 13 SMH: “So when you burn the gas, sure, it’s cleaner than burning coal. But when you look at the life-cycle of developing it, you’re on a par with some of our dirtiest fossil fuels.

“They’re trying to say natural gas will save the world, when in fact it’s the opposite: natural gas is trying to destroy renewable energy by being its principal competition. This is fossil fuel, and fossil fuel is of the last century. This century’s job is to make sure that’s not what we’re dependent on going forward.”

Written with Jess Moore for Green Left Weekly.

Image via Groomgreens.org