Talk On Invasive Gas Mining (Shale, Coal Seam Gas (Lignite) And Tight Sands)

leitrim | environment | event notice Wednesday April 10, 2013 22:43 by meg - NORTH WEST NETWORK AGAINST FRACKING 0863840254

Impacts of Gasfields on Communities: The Australian experience

Large areas of Leitrim and Clare are under options licenses for onshore Shale Gas extraction using destructive and invasive technology, including hydraulic fracturing.

What is less well known is that large areas of Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon are also licensed for Lignite extraction, which in simple terms is Coal Bed Methane/Coal Seam Gasification, with an even greater environmental and human health impact than shale gas extraction.

Annie Kia, a leading member of Australia's LOCK THE GATE ALLIANCE will be in Leitrim Community Center, Leitrim Village, on May 2nd at 8.30 pm, presenting,

"Impacts of Gasfields on Communities: The Australian experience"

Annie Kia works with the Lock The Gate Alliance in Australia to empower communities to resist invasive gas mining. With others, she developed a grass-roots democracy process called Gasfield Free Communities that has enabled citizens to stand up to gas mining intrusion. With a background in social movements and health promotion,

Annie has a strong belief in the power of communities to determine their futures through grass-roots participation.

When she travelled through southern Queensland, Annie was horrified by what she learnt about the social impacts of the ‘gas rush’ on local economies and communities. Her presentation covers

* Characteristics of invasive gas mining (extraction from shale, coal seams and tight sandstone)
* Economic impacts – empty shops amidst the gas rush
* Social displacement that follows the housing bubble
* The transfer of land management decisions to distant corporations
* Social consequences of the new system of patronage
* Symptoms of the gas rush: trucks, pipes, roads, fly-in workers
* Institutional failure to protect: bubbling rivers, leaking gasfields
* The power of social movements to make a difference
* A story of resistance: the Northern Rivers region of NSW

For further information please contact

Meg Rybicki-McAuley
NORTH WEST NETWORK AGAINST FRACKING
0863840254