MARCH against MONSANTO: The GMO - CSG connection.

by Mary-Ellen Peters.

Good Morning  ..
Thanks heaps for coming out this morning nice and early and especially  the elderly and those with children and a huge thank you to You Uncle Tom for opening for country.

NAMASTE

My name is Mary-Ellen Peters, 
I'm a  local radio programmer at 2bbb
I'm a concerned Mother
and,I'm an advocate for our PLANET.

Today, I am going to speak to you briefly about Monsanto / GM Cereal Crops and the specific connection to the CSG industry  in N.S.W as we speak!

The information may shock some and others will be  up to speed on the dilemma.

I'll open by quoting the DEA ,who are Doctors for the Environment AUSTRALIA.

"The health factors are ignored by industry, and completely overlooked by governments at both a State and a Federal level.  Failures to prevent pollution and protect human health is creating a costly legacy for Australia.   the "DEA",   argue that proper "health impact assessments" and "national oversight" of the mining industry at every stage is crucial and long overdue."

I want to highlight those words  "NATIONAL OVERSIGHT"  - yes! a watch dog is definitely necessary.

I'm here today to show my support for this world wide action MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO
and to let the world know  I saw no to the US MONSANTO PROTECTION ACT  and YES to clear labeling of all modified foods  and to sign a petition to our government saying this.  We want to let them know how we feel

Enough is enough.!

To tie the 2 subjects I mentioned together I will firstly summarise the Csg Industry for some background on WATER ( the blood of our planet)...

Coal and gas licenses or applications already cover more than half of Australia.   Its big folks.

 Hydraulic fracturing or "FRACKING"  of the coal seam  is done by pumping la huge volume of water sand and BTEX Chemicals at high pressure down the well into the seam ....
this causes the coal seam to fracture.

 The left over water extracted during this operation is  referred to as “produced or used water”. 
it's salty and contains toxic, radioactive compounds and some heavy metals.

Once the water has been extracted  it's stored in ineffective holding ponds at well sites then trucked  to a water treatment facility.  The holding ponds are ineffective as they  often leak and leech their toxic bootee into the soil.

The CSIRO says, “The quality of the produced water varies from site to site,  and it is generally not fit for human consumption.”

REMEMBER THAT POINT .... its important   Not fit for human consumption.

I would like now to enlighten you to these facts regarding Cereal GMO crops that are Monsanto Round Up Ready  and engineered genetically so they are salt tolerant crops

Do you think this is just a coincidence?  That part of the equation we may never know.   
HOWEVER..
How things change fast.   For the first time in NSW  the produced salty water the CSIRO report as unfit for human consumption   from deep in those coal seams is now being blended with fresh water and used for irrigation purposes and this is happening  at  Gloucester just west of Taree on AGL ENERGY Limited's Tiedemans Road property there. 

By all accounts  they are up to some pretty crazy stuff on their AGL "Fracking Farms" as I call these. 
and quoting the Gloucester Advocate here : Mr John Ross AGL's HYDROGEOLOGY Manager said he is very pleased with the trial so far.

The crops AGL are trialling are GENETICALLY MODIFIED to deal with the saline,......
and whacky doo its also Round up Ready.

TRITICAL and Lucerne. crops are being irrigated with this saline water, and there is a second  trial set for Chicory and Red Clover.    All watered with this toxic saline water mixture.

So what is TRITICAL?  It is a  GM Crop:  It is Wheat crossed with Rye.  Two completely different cereal crops.  2 different proteins.  Rye is the more salt tolerant of the two

Back In 2006  Countries all around the world  vowed they would never  grow TRITICAL because of the dangerous  Genetic Modifications now  AGL are adding to those  dangers by adding this toxic saline water to the GMO recipe.

AGL's website clearly tells us their plans.  They plan to feed this grain to stock.   The type of stock that if the trial is considered a success will end up meat from feed lots.

Now its coming together isn't it". 

Engineering plant proteins   animals and humans ingest as part of the food chain  changes DNA and how we cope with illness and how our immune system reacts.  Our DNA is protein.  
I'm aware as you are that the rates of cancer and immunodeficient illnesses  has been on a dramatic  rise since the early Nineteen eighties..  

Please join me in saying no to these types of trials continuing with the used saline mining water. 
its not rocket science ..this is a minefield   excuse the expression.

Where is this going?  Intent on solving the food crisis  it will be fed to humans by proxy via the meat breads and syrups,  all the time  still telling us it is good for us.  I want to mention here this is what the DEA are talking about / there is a huge gaping hole in the NATIONAL OVERSIGHT of this in Australia.

The Fluoride issue was similar.

Advocating for the planet now,  I envisage an end to the use of GLYPHOSATE entirely.  Humanity is now  subject  to environmental  modification  by  mining  and crop engineering.   This changes our personal health and our  way of living. It's a  manipulative technology with a controlled outcome.

 It is important for me to get this out there into the wider community.  These  two very vile industries are confusing, inefficient, uneconomic and its unethical science and I'm sure  this is something you would all be concerned about.   

The power is in your pockets to say no.  You are the consumers. 

I thank you for listening to me today and I wish you all well.  Please check the petition before you leave it is located over there. 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151935582052995&set=a.101311047994.112294.675742994&type=1&theater

Awesome warriors for the planet ... the guys from Icegraffic / Emma and Steve who have given their hearts to the planet both of them sold on her absolute beauty and so together we join in one mind right across the planet,  one heart to see her soils become rich again. Her waters to flow free and clean and for the animals to know we are their friends  and they will know by our heart energy.

MENTION THE PLEDGE   There is a pledge you can all take and it is the "Call to country" at Lock the Gate Alliance website / It is a petition you can download print out leave at various locations and when filled there are clear address instructions for postage.

Call to Country



Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr

REFERENCES:
http://dea.org.au/images/general/DEA_-_The_Health_Factor_05-13.pdf
http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/coal-csg-hurting-health-of-communities-doctors-say/1877494/
http://www.gloucesteradvocate.com.au/
http://www.agl.com.au/about/ASXandMedia/Pages/InnovativeirrigatortrialinGloucestershowingearlysuccess.aspx

Seed Savers Australia - All we are saying is Give PEA'S a Chance!

Growing our healthy futures ( Seedsavers Australia Network)

Seed is the foundation of humanity's evolution. Cultivation of seed and planting material is the basis for our food systems: in other words, seed saving is at the root of our capacity to thrive.

Broccoli going to seed next to the Silverbeet

I never knew there was a seed savers network before the other day.  Carol Vernon who is standing for the Greens party against Luke Hartsukyer is apart of this group.  I was pleased to hear that others thought saving seeds was an important task. 

I wonder where Jack ( my great uncle) used to keep his seeds?   He had a garden that fed the street and many others as well as his family.  What a garden it was to.  A place of magic and joy.

Broccoli Flowers in the Garden at Urunga NSW

There is a book called the Seed Savers Handbook and it can be purchased online securely (CLICK HERE) and I also see very well known people in this gardening game say this book is a must.

Bill Mollison, founder of Permaculture and recipient of the Australian Achiever Award 1993, says in the book's preface:
"I believe this book to be essential for all caring farmer, gardeners, cooks and parents, and I trust that it will speed our return to good nutrition and a healthy society."

Images @  Eminpee Fotography

"Feed the people NOW" - Why?

Because soon, they are going to  be very very hungry. . .
This is what Deity said to my spirit.   
Deity has since told me that it isn't over yet.  Clearly and concisely, "It is not over Yet".

On the microphone in Gloucester

There is a large volume of work to do on the planet,  the ancestors are calling us to account now.  Get up and get out there and do this because as Vee always says, " WE ARE THE ONLY RESCUE TEAM" 

So what does this still mean? 
What did it really mean then?

Conscious talk / listening / communication as opposed to unconscious talk / listening /communication & how to become more conscious and aware.

Ancestral beings contact us on many levels,  dreams, symbolism, Animals and birds and even trees convey wisdom into our psyche and of course there is the Akasha where everything is.  I like to tap into that great source because it is the collective thought of everything that ever was.

Have you ever noticed that you can talk because you choose to.   You think  what you are saying is relevant, important or enjoyable to say or share.   There are other times your mind and emotions just run off like a teenager at a shopping mall  and all your feeling is in  words without you even being aware of it  like emotions spilling out of your mouth!
 
Dealing with large mining companies who are killing our planet I tend to start on my soap box and it is very hard to get me down off of it. 

I will stand and defend our planet until my dying breath.   I just wish I had known all of these years ago that others felt the same as I was feeling. 

I would have formed a movement.  Someone did form a movement in Bellingen.  The Environment Centre is a movement as such, and it is beautiful.  It is indeed a credit to the people who built this. 

I wish I had known more about the Centre from its inception.  It seemed to me like it was people who didn't know me and therefore I was not apart of this, sadly I was probably very wrong.  I am the one who missed out.  I was always fearful.  Frightened I never had what it was they expected me to have.  I was indeed very damaged by the past.

Now I have been into this centre.   It is a credit, it is a piece of absolute love work.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Yo yo yo Bellingen is Marching against MONSANTO .. oh oh oh!

 

World March against MONSANTO only a few days out now.  This will change things because we are all coming from our collective heart energy and when we do this you can consider it done.  It has already happened in the spirit world.   Now we just have to get reality to catch up with the spirit of this.  After all, you have heard the saying that we are SPIRITS having a HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

  Image from the March against Monsanto Bellingen initiative.

GAS GAS GAS .. Conventional and Non Conventional.

I am often asked by people who are attempting to learn about GAS in our country just what is the difference between Conventional and Non Conventional Gas and so here is todays post regarding this.
 
Conventional gas
Conventional gas is obtained from reservoirs that largely consist of porous sandstone formations capped by impermeable rock, with the gas trapped by buoyancy. The gas can move to the surface through the gas wells without the need to pump.

Csg extraction at Gloucester at Tiedimans lane Forbesdale

Unconventional gas
Unconventional gas is generally produced from complex geological systems that prevent or significantly limit the migration of gas and require innovative technological solutions for extraction.

The difference between conventional and unconventional gas is the geology of the reservoirs from which they are produced.

There are several types of unconventional gas such as CSG, shale gas and tight gas.

Coal Seam Gas
CSG is entirely adsorbed into the coal matrix. Movement of CSG to the surface through gas wells normally requires extraction of formation water from the coal cleats and fractures. This reduces the pressure, allowing methane to be released from the coal matrix. Over time, water production decreases and gas production increases. CSG production normally requires a higher density of wells than conventional gas production; however CSG wells are typically shallower than conventional wells and cost much less to drill.

Shale gas
Shale gas is generally extracted from a clay-rich sedimentary rock which has naturally low permeability. The gas it contains is either adsorbed (i.e., closely to the surface matrix of the organic matter) or in a free state in the pores of the rock.

Tight gas
Tight gas is trapped in ultra-compact reservoirs characterised by very low porosity and permeability. The rock pores that contain the gas are minuscule, and the interconnections between them are so limited that the gas can only migrate through it with great difficulty.

"My personal view on this is very different to that of our leaders and a lot of other ordinary Australians who in my personal opinion trust to easily.  Trusting a crooked government is a recipe for disaster and our country is on the BRINK OF DISASTER from the unconventional gas extraction that is going on right now,  Minister Burke has just introduced more legislation to protect this rogue industry."   Mary-Ellen xx 

Related articles

• Could shale gas pose a greater threat to water than CSG?
• Spotlight falls on CSG worries
• Concern fracking may restart in Victoria
• CSG miners prodded on emissions data
• Coal Seam Gas in Australia
• Shale gas, tight oil, and fracking - May 21

Dear Chanel Seven

English: Logo for the Seven Network, Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today I emailed Channel Seven and sent them a photograph regarding  how I feel Csg is effecting me.  I would have kept a copy but something went wrong with the copy/paste process and I lost it.

Not to matter, if I get a reply I will be happy no less.  I would always want to effect good in everything I do,  we all need to understand that the planet and us are connected and this is physically hurting me..

AIR MY BREATH

FIRE MY SPIRIT
WATER MY BLOOD
EARTH MY SOUL

Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr

6 Days out from the March Day .. paint, paint, paint.

Next Saturday 25th May 2013 there will be a march against Monsanto in Bellingen and many people are coming on board to show support.
I have been helping paint banners, this is not one I painted but it sure is an excellent job by my friend Ms Montes. 
Mine is huge and not finished yet.  I must do some more work on it today when I visit it later on.   There is a meeting this evening up in Bellingen at the local Environment Centre at 6pm to do rosters and organize the volunteers who are helping with various tasks in the organisation of the March against Monsanto.

Français : Rotation d'un svastika par illusion perceptive. Magyar: A jobbra néző szvasztikát az óramutató járása szerint…. Nederlands: Een rechtswijzende swastika kan als "met de klok mee" worden beschreven... (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I also messaged a friend that studies ancient texts to see if he may know where the GMO crew lifted this symbol from.  What does it originally represent?    It will be a good symbol and they will pollute this by attaching it to  this.  When people see it they already do not like it and they do not know the truth.  This is how it is done.  May I remind you that the Swastika suffered the same fate as this.

Swastika It symbolizes Harmony, Lord Ganesh has it on his right hand. Differs from other uses of swastika by the four dots inside each of the four arms. Also, it is always drawn with the four inner arms at 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees on the compass, unlike other inscriptions where the inner arms are in the form of an 'X'. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Images Via M.A.M Bellingen

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How all the good of the past could come to this.

A very strange and sad commentary of the way our lives have become.

Powerful energy companies trying to rape the earth for her last great bits.

A new pilgrimage has been declared...  a pilgrimage into the great economic future of the world's industrial wealth.  Humanity has become very much self absorbed and selfish.  This type of action is a sickness.  It is a sickness on par with all serious physical illnesses

In the past we lived modestly in an uncluttered existence.  This says and does a lot.  Living simply and living naturally is so much better for all of the people here on planet Earth.

I am a little envious of  early man who lived in a natural world.  What a world that must have been.   In today's world we have to go back to classes to learn how to overcome the large powerful companies that are liabilities to our planet.  We have to help our planet and we have to help ourselves survive this intrepid behaviour by these mining and energy companies who are raping our planet.

Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr

PELL MELL

The former head of  the police strike force Lantel  has told a NSW Inquiry into child sexual abuse that he was made aware of crucial church documents in the office of the arch diocese of Sydney  headed by Cardinal George Pell. 

The special commission of inquiry is investigating alleged cover ups of clerical abuse by police and the Catholic Church in the Hunter region north of Sydney.  In another development  Police were also concerned about a settlement agreement between a victim and the Catholic Church. They have now got receipt of these documents.  The agreement documents show the victim was required to repay his compensation payment plus 10% per annum if  he took his case to the police for criminal action.

Father Guy Harcher who was charged with 22 offenses in the mid 1990's involving young boys in the Bathurst Region.   He was subsequently moved to the Gresford Church in 1999 by the then Bishop of Maitland  Father Malone of Newcastle.   A police intelligence report which included information about Harcher was tendered as evidence.  The report says the Police inquiry were very concerned with a compensation agreement of silence between the victim of  Father Harcher and the Catholic Church.

"The church compensated one victim prior to the trial on signing a deed of release not to take civil or criminal action".

The internal report says the police objected to these arrangements but the charges were withdrawn  and the trial did not proceed.
The ABC has obtained a copy of the deed of release between the victim and the church and it reads as follows:

"In the event that the releaser commences or causes any criminal proceedings that forthwith upon commencement of any such action he will repay to the agreed trustees the agreed settlement sum together with interest at a rate of ten percent per annum.

Father Guy Harcher was withdrawn from active priesthood in 2004 but he is still a priest of the  Vincentian Order.

Former detective chief inspector Brad Taylor of the Newcastle Command took the stand, he said he was told he should get a warrant to search Cardinal George Pell's officers for documents.  This suggestion was made at a meeting in 2010 by Andrew Morrison SC the victims lawyer.  The statement was a testimony of a key witness who was refusing to finish a statement because of being badly treated by one of the officers on strike force Lantel Detective Peter Fox.  Morrison thinks with these documents they can proceed the case.  I wish them luck.  

I suggest the Catholic Church shut shop now, cease and desist from any type of dealings with children any and everywhere. 

People continually send their children to Catholic Schools,  why do they do this?  Don't they care about their children.  I feel that any parent sending a child to to a catholic school needs to be investigated by the Department for Children and have a case opened against them for neglect and abuse.  Knowingly sending your child to an unsafe place must be regarded as neglect by the parent or parents or caregivers.
Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr

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REGISTER for the upcoming CABINET MEETING IN TAREE!

The NSW Government will be holding a Community Cabinet meeting in Taree on Monday, 20 May 2013.
At 12:00pm the Premier and Ministers will address a public forum with a question and answer session from the audience.

All members of the public wishing to attend must register prior to the meeting either online, or by printing the Registration Form and returning it by fax (02 9228 4880).
http://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/119503/Public_Forum_Registration_Form.pdf

Venue details:

• Club Taree, 121 Wingham Road, Taree NSW 2430
• No smoking is permitted in the venue.
• As large bags may be subject to search we recommend that you reconsider bringing such items to the meeting.
• Signs or banners are not permitted in the Community Cabinet meeting venue.

If you do not get the opportunity to discuss your issue at the public forum, you may fill in a form on the day that will be provided to the relevant Minister for consideration.

Information about the NSW Government Lobbyist Code of Conduct The NSW Government has established a Register of Lobbyists and a Lobbyist Code of Conduct.
Under the Code, professional lobbyists are not allowed to meet with Government representatives unless their details appear on the Register of Lobbyists and they agree to be bound by the Code.
The Code only applies to professional lobbyists. Ordinary members of the public are not required to register before they talk to Government representatives at Community Cabinet meetings.
If you are unsure if you are a “lobbyist” who is required to register under the Code, please visit the Department’s website for more information.

Images @ Melonpopz Flickr

THE LIGHTS OF COBB & CO.

English: Cobb & Co coach, Timbertown, Wauchope, NSW (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recently I found out the Gloucester Gas Project has a pipeline that is going to destroy Bora Rings / Scarred Trees and also a piece of Australian history, namely a Cobb & Co Station near Wards River near Gloucester NSW. My heart broke reading this poem out loud to my household and it broke even more while I was brandishing stories of my childhood that I was told about these horse drawn coaches by my Grandmother. Australia is in crisis.  We are fighting a silent war against Energy Companies.

By Henry Lawson
 

 FIRE LIGHTED, on the table a meal for sleepy men,
A lantern in the stable, a jingle now and then;
The mail coach looming darkly by light of moon and star,
The growl of sleepy voices—a candle in the bar.
A stumble in the passage of folk with wits abroad;
A swear-word from a bedroom—the shout of ‘All aboard!’
‘Tchk-tchk! Git-up!’ ‘Hold fast, there!’ and down the range we go;
Five hundred miles of scattered camps will watch for Cobb and Co.

Old coaching towns already ‘decaying for their sins,
’Uncounted ‘Half -Way Houses,’ and scores of ‘Ten Mile Inns;
’The riders from the stations by lonely granite peaks;The black-boy for the shepherds on sheep and cattle creeks;
The roaring camps of Gulgong, and many a ‘Digger’s Rest;
’The diggers on the Lachlan; the huts of Farthest West;
Some twenty thousand exiles who sailed for weal or woe;
The bravest hearts of twenty lands will wait for Cobb and Co.

The morning star has vanished, the frost and fog are gone,
In one of those grand mornings which but on mountains dawn;
A flask of friendly whisky—each other’s hopes we share—
And throw our top-coats open to drink the mountain air.
The roads are rare to travel, and life seems all complete;
The grind of wheels on gravel, the trot of horses’ feet,
The trot, trot, trot and canter, as down the spur we go—
The green sweeps to horizons blue that call for Cobb and Co.

We take a bright girl actress through western dust and damps,
To bear the home-world message, and sing for sinful camps,
To wake the hearts and break them, wild hearts that hope and ache—
(Ah! when she thinks of those days her own must nearly break!)
Five miles this side the gold-field, a loud, triumphant shout:
Five hundred cheering diggers have snatched the horses out:
With ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in chorus through roaring camps they go—
That cheer for her, and cheer for Home, and cheer for Cobb and Co.

Three lamps above the ridges and gorges dark and deep,
A flash on sandstone cuttings where sheer the sidings sweep,
A flash on shrouded waggons, on water ghastly white;
Weird bush and scattered remnants of rushes in the night
Across the swollen river a flash beyond the ford:
‘Ride hard to warn the driver! He’s drunk or mad, good Lord!’
But on the bank to westward a broad, triumphant glow—
A hundred miles shall see to-night the lights of Cobb and Co.!

Swift scramble up the siding where teams climb inch by inch;
Pause, bird-like, on the summit—then breakneck down the pinch
Past haunted half-way houses—where convicts made the bricks—
Scrub-yards and new bark shanties, we dash with five and six—
By clear, ridge-country rivers, and gaps where tracks run high,
Where waits the lonely horseman, cut clear against the sky;
Through stringy-bark and blue-gum, and box and pine we go;
New camps are stretching ’cross the plains the routes of Cobb and Co.

Throw down the reins, old driver—there’s no one left to shout;
The ruined inn’s survivor must take the horses out.
A poor old coach hereafter!—we’re lost to all such things—
No bursts of songs or laughter shall shake your leathern springs
When creeping in unnoticed by railway sidings drear,
Or left in yards for lumber, decaying with the year—
Oh, who’ll think how in those days when distant fields were broad
You raced across the Lachlan side with twenty-five on board.

Not all the ships that sail away since Roaring Days are done—
Not all the boats that steam from port, nor all the trains that run,
Shall take such hopes and loyal hearts—for men shall never know
Such days as when the Royal Mail was run by Cobb and Co.
The ‘greyhounds’ race across the sea, the ‘special’ cleaves the haze,
But these seem dull and slow to me compared with Roaring Days!
The eyes that watched are dim with age, and souls are weak and slow,
The hearts are dust or hardened now that broke for Cobb and Co.

Images @ Melonpopz Flickr School of Arts

AGL can go to Hell!

I have been to Gloucester and I have witnessed the hell this company called AGL is causing for ordinary Australians living in the Gloucester region of NSW.
We need to fight these mongrels with everything we have and do our best to make sure they cannot do anymore damage to the land and water and to the people of the area.

Mining giant AGL are on par with all of the other corrupt "make it up as you go along" energy companies flaunting themselves like frustrated monkeys at the Australian public.  Recently AGL reported that they are now better than God and nature.  The company actually comes right out and reports lies like once we  frack the used water from this process would improve the Avon River's now slightly saline water.


Recently the ABC's Four Corners program had many questions for AGL's head of Corporate Communications Ms Karen Winsbury.  She refuted the claims by mining expert Mr Philip Pells ground water study conducted by Parsons Brinkerhoff for the Gloucester Gas Project.

Richard Pells said, "the study had not been encompassing enough (covering only 0.25 per cent of the project area) and no numerical analysis of the model had been presented."

From the Gloucester Advocate

ENERGY giant AGL has dismissed claims its Gloucester Gas Project will affect water quality and water tables and has stated it could actually improve the water quality of the Avon River.
Responding to questions from the ABC’s Four Corners program, AGL’s head of Corporate Communications Karen Winsbury refuted claims by mining expert Philip Pells on a phase two groundwater study conducted by Parsons Brinkerhoff for the Gloucester Gas Project.
On the Four Corners program Pells said the study had not been encompassing enough (covering only 0.25 per cent of the project area) and no numerical analysis of the model had been presented.
When Professor Pells ran the data, he found that AGL’s conclusions - that there was no evidence of natural connectivity between shallow and deep groundwater systems - were not supported by the model.  
He also discovered the model reduced the baseflow that feeds the streams of the Gloucester valley.
In response to the claims, AGL said that Professor Pells’ critique was now out of date as much of the work that the company had planned in 2012-13 had been completed or commenced.
AGL also dismissed concerns raised by MidCoast Water general manager Robert Loadsman that the Gloucester Gas Project would affect its Manning District water supply scheme.
Mr Loadsman questioned why there was no mention of the potential for impacts on drinking water quality in the environmental assessment for the project.
He also queried whether the project approvals included provision for a river discharge.
AGL said the environmental assessment did not consider impacts on drinking water quality because the Manning District water supply scheme was too far downstream to be considered at risk from the project. 
The company said there was no local draw from the Avon River for drinking water supply as it was a known saline catchment.
AGL said the approvals process for the mine had provided consent for treated water discharge during periods of high rainfall, but there was no approval for river charges at this time.
The company said that if there was a discharge it would not result in any risk of an impact on drinking water quality because it would be of a higher standard than the natural water quality during high river flows.
It said water produced from the Gloucester Gas Project would be slightly salty groundwater that would have naturally drained back to the catchment as a base-flow but instead would be treated by passing through a membrane to make it less salty.
AGL said by doing this it would actually improve the quality of the water in the Avon River catchment.
It said the volume of water it would potentially release would be extremely small in comparison to the flows in the lower Manning River - less than .05 per cent of typical high flows. 
And if it were to happen at all, a release would occur only following heavy rain, so the percentage would fall even further.

Images @ Melonpopz Flickr

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• Can we talk of integration until there is integration of hearts and minds? Unless you have this, you only have a physical presence, and the walls between us are as high as the mountain range.