Lithgow & Wallerawang Gas Supply Outage – Mayoral Update (7 November)

Lithgow City Council continues to work closely with all stakeholders to minimise disruption and to ensure impacts to the community are mitigated to the extent possible.

Lithgow City Council understands that the exact timeframe of the gas supply disruption is largely unknown. While several solutions are being pursued, both temporary and permanent, the fact remains that for many this is an unprecedented emergency. Today, Mayor Statham offers the following advice.

“In acknowledging this emergency, our only real concern is the wellbeing of the community, with the restoration of gas supply being just a means to ensure this”, said Lithgow City Council’s Mayor, Councillor Maree Statham. “As Council cannot restore supply, we are actively pursuing any and all opportunities to reduce the impact of this challenging situation.”

“Today, Council’s engineers are working directly with Public Works Advisory to assist with the supply of gas directly to the Lithgow Hospital by truck, and the installation of a new gas tank for temporary supply at a Jemena site in Wallerawang. These are technically challenging problems which require a multi-faceted approach to construction. I thank Jemena, APA, Public Works and Council staff for their efforts on behalf of this community.”

“Earlier though, I acknowledged that community wellbeing is our focus”, continued Mayor Statham. “To achieve this, in addition to the free showers offered at Tony Luchetti, we continue to engage with community groups to make their showers available. Staff will be working today alongside the Wallerawang Indoor Sports Association to replace shower heads at the Wallerawang Basketball Stadium, which will ensure accessible facilities for the community.”

“We are also working with individual members of our community who are experiencing vulnerability. In serious cases, rather than send the resident through Service NSW, we are reaching out and providing direct assistance. We are providing timely and much needed assistance directly to our community. We are also working with LINC and Resilience NSW to ensure priority reconnection of other sites such as group homes which are also experiencing vulnerability.”

“Lastly, it is not just residents who are struggling”, noted Mayor Statham. “Thales are one of Lithgow’s largest employers and many of their processes are gas dependent. To reduce risk to employment, we are directly connecting businesses like Thales directly to APA and Jemena to pursue direct assistance.”

“Combined with damage from recent floods, this is a very difficult time for Lithgow. As we continue to do our best to help you, please make sure to help each other. Together, I have every confidence that we will get through this, as we have with all past disasters.”