Peter Hannam writes in the Sydney Morning Herald (5.2.16):
‘For Julie Lyford and John Watts, news of AGL’s plan to scrap its entire coal seam gas plans and cop a pre-tax writedown of almost $800 million brought jubilation and relief. The two, along with many in the mid-north NSW town of Gloucester, had led an eight-year battle to prevent energy firms turning their lush valley into an industrialised lattice of coal seam wells and pipelines. …
‘Chief executive Andy Vesey … spent a chunk of his first year in charge trying to extricate AGL from an embarrassing folly that threatened permanent damage to a reputation built up over its 179 years.’