The evidence of the alternative position is on our doorstep, the industrialisation of the previous agricultural shire of Muswellbrook.

One feels for the Mayor Martin Rush and the community as they try to get a balance within the shire for competing land uses.

Bengalla was a disaster that should never have happened;it came about because of retrospective legislation by the then governement, three days after the Land and Environment Court ruled out the mine.

We feel sure that with time, coal seam gas extraction will be revealed for what it is...a quick grab for cash for big companies, while threatening the viability of all our agricultural activities.

The precautionary principle states that no activity should occur until it can be proven that there will be no detrimental effect.

Coal seam gas cannot prove that there will be no harm to the aquifers or to the health and lifestyle of the communities they enter.

All the community should remain vigilant and educated about the potential risks that this industry poses.