Gunnedah residents have taken the chance to have their say on the controversial Narrabri Gas Project, as the week-long Independent Planning Commission hearings continue.
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Steven Fordham, an Indigenous man born in Gunnedah, spoke in favor of the scheme on Wednesday.
He said he's approached Santos to see if there would be work available for local Indigenous business in the region.
"I don't think it's worth completely canceling some of the positives which are in any infrastructural projects coming to an area," he said.
"As long as those opportunities do stay in that local regional area it does help."
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Gunnedah Farmer Scott McCalman compared the significance of the project to the Cuban Missile Crisis, saying the scheme had a "huge array of potential catastrophic impacts".
"The implications to Australia if this coal-seam-gas project goes ahead has the same capacity to create irreversible damage and potential life-changing destruction," he said.
He said his farm has already been buffeted by climate change, which he said the 850-mine would exacerbate.
Yarraman farmer Rosemary Nankivell told Commissioners on Wednesday local farmers had blockaded previous resource projects in 2011 and from 2007 and vowed to do it again if necessary.
"Blockading has always come as a last resort. In both cases it was necessary and resulted in a successful outcome. We will do so again."
The week-long hearings before the Independent Planning Commission are the climax of a 20-year controversy over Santos' plans for gas development in and around the Pilliga forest. Attracting a record 404 registered speakers, they could be the final stage before the company wins approval for the controversial mine.
If approved, one option for piping the gas to domestic users would mean the construction of a pipeline through the Liverpool plains.