Book Review: The Town that Said No to AGL
When I was growing up my family would make the three and a half hour drive from Sydney to Barrington Tops. We stayed at a guest house set within thick bush. I can still remember sitting on the veranda which wrapped around the federation building, to watch my sisters, as they fed the squeaking lorikeets that squabbled for seeds. It is a region of NSW of sublime natural beauty, of rain forests to explore and rivers to kayak through.
In 2011 AGL was granted approval for 110-well mine in the nearby Gloucester Valley, together with the option of exploring sites for another 220 wells. The residents of the adjoining town of Gloucester became concerned as some wells were to be only a few hundred metres away from family homes. This escalated to outrage, as many began to understand how fracking would threaten the health of the town’s residents, the immediate environment and the river system their agriculture relied on.
John Watt’s book “The Town that Said No to AGL”, is a look inside Gloucester’s successful attempt at resisting the mine. It might seem like your usual David and Goliath, people power vs corporate power story a-la the Castle. Michael Caton even makes an appearance “You would have
to be dreaming to turn the beautiful Gloucester Valley into a
gas field”. Yet more importantly Watt’s book is an account of how the mining industry operates arm in arm with the NSW state government. It is a disquieting read and most readers will experience a crisis of faith regarding how the state political system deals with corporate donations and with their responsibilities to the environment and the voters they are supposed to serve.
In this way Watts brings the reader on the same journey many of the townspeople had to take, from loyal but naive citizen to seasoned protester. Not all made the trip together and the community in Gloucester began to fracture and separate into two camps - Groundswell: the large and dedicated cadre of protesters against AGL, and a small, unscrupulous and vocal faction that supported the mine. This second group were not above resorting to threats, verbal abuse and, it is hinted, AGL’s sponsorship or at least implicit endorsement. You have to forgive Watts for such black and white charaterisations rooted firmly as he is in Groundswell.
Some of the most interesting moments of the book occur as a result of this fracturing of the town’s community, when Watts recalls talking with some Gloucesterites as they are in tears, only able to offer unofficial support to Groundswell, pressured into self censorship by relatives and friends.
The soul of the book resides with those who do the journey to become protesters. There is something special about a former Liberal voter locking himself to the mine gates to prevent the black tinted mining vehicles from entering, or, my personal favourite, Knitting Nanas Against Gas and Greed (KNAG) a group populated mostly by kindly old ladies that blockade a mine’s entrance by sitting and knitting. Passive resistence indeed and you can imagine the PR fallout of an old lady dragged by a police officer through the dust, a spool of wool unraveling in tow. 
Like most battles the first casualty in the fight against AGL was the truth. AGL spent vast sums of money and had a team of spin doctors. They took out large glossy advertisements in the local paper, of vague assurances of environmental safety and jobs boosting the town’s economy. Their community consultation was little more than a PR exercise. Any attempt by the townspeople concerned with the threat of toxic chemicals leeching into the water system were met by obstruction and lies. Groundswell responded by writing their own articles in the local paper, and the story was covered by Sydney Morning Herald Environmental Editor Peter Hannam. This was effective as AGL was worried about its corporate image attacked in the press. One wonders what weapons any similar protesters will have in a few years if diversity and funding shrink in the Australian media landscape.
Yet the darkest revelations of The Town that Said No to AGL are the allowances and complicity between AGL and the NSW state government. The Environmental Protection Agency is shown to be underfunded and toothless; the Office of Coal Seam Gas has little purpose beyond rubber stamping and the state government, itself, seems most suspect of all. Watts is a retired barrister and in one extraordinary portion he and fellow protesters compile an extensive letter to the government explaining they are legally required to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement before mining begins. The government responds by changing the law. Watts also wonders if AGL’s political funding leads to decisions like these. And while AGL has discontinued funding political parties, other mining companies have not. The author even ventures, without irony, if anyone with integrity or courage could survive in the state government.
As he admits - we may never know why AGL decided to pull up stumps and leave. Were they defeated or did they surrender? AGL General Manager Mike Moraza, perhaps the book’s arch villain, took an early retirement to be replaced by Andy Vesey who seemed more responsive to Groundswell and has since shifted AGL away from fracking to renewables. Perhaps the most telling quote is from NSW Director of Planning Sam Haddad when he said “If there is a resource we shall harvest it” When asked if that meant three years of community consulation was a charade - he repeated the statement: “If there is a resource we shall harvest it.”
This sort of naked arrogance on the part of politicians seems to be the rule rather than the exception in NSW state government. Yet it became clear to Groundswell that while AGL and the state government could not be reasoned with or have their consciences appealed to, they could be beaten on their own ruthless metrics. When costs mounted and fracking was delayed due to protesters barricading the entrance to mines, when AGL’s corporate image began to suffer nationally, and impact its share price, AGL made the coldly rational decision to move out. What they left was a group of capable, dedicated and savvy protesters able to mobilize to fight the next dodgy approval and the next after that.
The Town that Said No to AGL by John Watts is available from 11 April 2018. Email your order to [gloucesterbookorders@gmail.com]