What I do -
Welcome to my blog site to expose, inform and, most importantly, to educate.
Welcome to my blog site to expose, inform and, most importantly, to educate.
I am proud to have received Environment Victoria's 2023 Individual Award for outstanding environmental contribution.
My name is Tracey Anton and Community over Mining is my blog site originally started in 2011 in response to expansion of onshore gas exploration in Gippsland, Victoria Australia and have been agitating on coordinated government policy, or lack of, since.
My interest and research exposed significant regional legacy impacts of subsidence (land sinking), groundwater depletion and poor government decision-making. It has now expanded to contaminants in waterways from industry discharges, over-extraction of surface and groundwater leading to increasing subsidence and poor river health, and toxic air emissions depositing to land and water.
Too many industries have carte blanche to pollute the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe all under the oversight of regulatory bodies.
While the community stay quiet, industry, our local parliamentary representatives and government do not need to do anything about this reckless abuse. But times are changing. Our groups are networking better and our combined knowledge is increasing.
Briefly, the major issues of concern:
Profile and articles written agitating against the fossil fuel industry in 2016-17 for online newspaper, Independent Australia.
My interest and research exposed significant regional legacy impacts of subsidence (land sinking), groundwater depletion and poor government decision-making. It has now expanded to contaminants in waterways from industry discharges, over-extraction of surface and groundwater leading to increasing subsidence and poor river health, and toxic air emissions depositing to land and water.
Too many industries have carte blanche to pollute the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe all under the oversight of regulatory bodies.
While the community stay quiet, industry, our local parliamentary representatives and government do not need to do anything about this reckless abuse. But times are changing. Our groups are networking better and our combined knowledge is increasing.
Briefly, the major issues of concern:
- Poor regulatory frameworks, oversight and integrity to ensure industry apply best pollution technology, are compliant and human health takes precedence.
- Existing food production and protecting land for future food security to separate food production from risk
- Ensure sustainable water use and maintenance of ground water integrity and healthy river systems
- Health implications and social injustice
- poor planning decisions and lack of government transparency.
- lack of community consultation and accountability with industry and government.
- inadequate government policy (state and federal level) to protect our water resources to sustain a healthy, interconnected river system to support clean food, recreation, tourism and wellbeing.
- PFAS contamination (current main focus)
- chemical exposure via our food and drinking water
- onshore gas expansion
- inappropriate mining expansion - coal, mineral sands, gold, etc
- Friends of Latrobe Water working with Environmental Justice Australia on rehabilitation of Latrobe Valley coal mines and interconnected Gippsland Lakes system;
- Concerned Waterways Alliance (CWA) which is a network of community and environment groups from Gippsland to the Otways sharing a deep concern about the degraded state of southern Victoria’s rivers, wetlands and aquifers. We are also committed to improving river health for the benefit of current and future generations; and
- network with multiple groups in broader Gippsland and around Australia taking the fight to our policy makers.
Profile and articles written agitating against the fossil fuel industry in 2016-17 for online newspaper, Independent Australia.