An environmental activist has been arrested at a human blockade protesting against the construction of a coal seam gas pipeline on Queensland’s Western Downs.
Friends of the Earth campaigner Drew Hutton was arrested at 2.20pm (AEST) on Tuesday at the Tara Estate, south of Chinchilla.
Police charged him under Section 804 of the Petroleum and Gas Act with obstruction of a petroleum authority holder, an offence that carries a potential $50,000 fine.
The section guarantees mining and gas companies access to private land. 
The protest is part of a month-long campaign by local farmers and environmentalists to stop Queensland Gas Company building a 16km pipeline to take coal seam gas from five wells on the estate to the nearby Kenya gas processing plant.