OPPONENTS of coal seam gas took to the road on Sunday in a self-described ‘‘longest roadside protest’’ along main roads from Dubbo and Newcastle to Chinchilla in Queensland.
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Organiser Nicole Hunter from Coonabarabran said the protesters originally wanted to traverse the Santos licence area in the Piliga, but the idea ‘‘went viral’’.
A Facebook page (#csgfreehwy) showed photographs of protesters holding their yellow triangular ‘‘Lock the Gate’’ signs on the sides of various main roads.
"We wanted to send a message to the government after the election that we’re not giving up on protecting our water, land and our families from coal seam gas,’’ Ms Hunter said.
Hunter Valley Protection Alliance spokesman Graeme Gibson said on Sunday that the economic basis of coal seam gas was increasingly under threat.
Mr Gibson, whose newsletter Gas Watch reports on coal seam gas matters in the Hunter Region, pointed to a major conference next month hosted by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
Mr Gibson said the association’s Melbourne conference was being promoted using quotes from Oxford economist Professor Jonathan Stern, who was predicting that a global ‘‘surplus liquid natural gas (LNG) supply cycle could extend to 2020 and beyond’’.
‘‘A period of significantly low prices could raise questions of how many new LNG projects will be able to take final investment decisions without a substantial fall in costs,” Professor Stern said.
Mr Gibson said this showed the ‘‘gas supply crisis’’ that was often used to justify coal seam gas was ‘‘a nonsense’’.
But a petroleum association spokesperson, Chris Ward, said Mr Gibson’s comments were a ‘‘clear misrepresentation of the state’s gas supply and demand situation’’.
‘‘The dynamics of ever-changing gas supply and demand scenarios do not diminish the need for a local gas industry that can alleviate rising prices by removing the reliance on gas piped from interstate,’’ Mr Ward said.
The latest Australian Energy Market Operator’s prediction shows a 17per cent fall in gas use by 2019.