Narrabri Gas

Most of natural gas and natural resources are exported to Japan and china at the moment. i Also recently discovered that Australia does not have its own system of gas but we have market! Some of our gas infastructure is owned by the Malaysian and Chinese government!!
This has deep systemic problems in the way we build our nation on the import export arena. This can be heard in the cries that Australia is not for sale.
If you don't believe the ecosystems that will be impacted by this, I strongly insist that even the economic repercussions of this project, will not benefit Australians in the long term.
Do not go ahead with this project, and re-evaluate the way we sell ourselves offshore.
Australia can sustain itself without having to dig into this reserve.
Australia can be a leader in alternative energy while the rest of the world hesitates.

I object to the Narabri Gas Project for the following key reasons;

t will extract over 35 billion litres of toxic groundwater, much of it in the first five years. This water will be treated and in the early years will generate tens of thousands of tonnes of salt, for which there is no safe disposal plan.

It will clear close to 1,000 hectares of the Pilliga Forest, fragmenting the largest temperate woodland in New South Wales, home to unique wildlife.

It will cause significant diversion of water from a recharge aquifer of the Great Artesian Basin, which is a water resource relied upon by rural communities across western NSW.

It will lead to large deliberate and fugitive emissions of methane, adding to climate change.
It will cause more trauma to the regional Aboriginal community because the area of impact is crucially important to the spiritual, cultural and social life of Gamilaraay people.

It is not justified: Santos' own Coal Seam Gas export activities in Queensland have caused gas prices to rise and supply to become unpredictable. NSW should respond to this by investing in more reliable and ultimately cheaper renewable energy, not by letting Santos inflict more environmental, social and economic harm.

It will cause economic upheaval in Narrabri and put agricultural industries at risk, as well as causing light pollution that will ruin the dark night sky needed by the internationally renowned Siding Spring Observatory.

Coal Seam Gas is harmful to health. Neither the NSW Government nor Santos have investigated or dealt with the serious health effects of coal seam gas now appearing in peer-reviewed research in the United States.

I appreciate your consideration of the above points.

Yours sincerely,
Lynne Donnelly

Please don't do this

Anymore action or investment in the desctruction of our environment will have catastrophic results for our sundrenched desert country. We need pristine countryside because we know that other countries have suffered for the loss of theirs.
Thank you Emilia

The push by Santos to frack for CSG gas in the Pillaga Forest is a travesty of our human rights.
The company Santos have plans for a gas project that would drill 1,100 coal seam gas wells, clear 1,000km of pipelines and spread out across 850 square kilometres of forest in the Pilliga. It would involve wells drilled on a massive grid, every 500m, as well as access tracks, pipelines, water treatment facilities and compression plants.
Currently the detrimental effects of their exploration phase are extensive and include; major spillage of saline water leading to extensive tree deaths, clearing of vegetation without Federal environmental approval, over-flow of contaminated drill ponds into surrounding areas during rain, repeated failures to line drill ponds leading to major salt scalds on surrounding soils, leaking gas pipes and water drains bubbling with methane, and poor handling of chemicals leading to spillage during a flood event. Now nothing, not even ants, live on the spill zone.
These initial effects alone are surely enough to raise alarm and alert authorities responsible for the upkeep of legislative acts such as the; Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW), National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW), Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth), and Water Management Act 2000 (NSW).
Environmentally and societally the Government bodies approving these mining companies activities are becoming more blatantly exposed as negligent. Damage to the environment and therefore humanities health due to corporate greed is not sustainable. It is as if the basic business maxim has been altered from profit for shares, to profit for jobs, in the hope of conning public interest. In fact as of December 2012, (more current information could not be found on their website), the Australian company Santos, have employed 3,000 people (exc. contractors) across Australia and Asia. Boggabri Coal Pty Limited employ approximately 150 (employees & contractors).
The winners here are a very small minority of people who have massive vested financial interest in selling our limited resources off shore.
The single most important issue in all of this is humanities duty of care towards our water resources.
I have it on insider knowledge that plans to dump waste water on the Great Barrier Reef were only narrowly averted by a (now) ex employee. Without his attention to detail and integrity what would have happened? And now that he has left the company I wonder what is really happening?
The second most important issue is recalibrating the cost to our future and developing the harness of renewable resources.
In the grand scheme of things water is at it's best when collected from springs or aquifer basins. The purity of the water at these places is due to the natural processes of evaporation, precipitation and filtration which renew this limited resource.
Beneath the Pillaga are vast underground water systems feeding into the Great Artesian Basin, the nations' largest inland water source. The Pilliga sandstones are an important recharge area for the Basin, crucial to the quality and volume of water on which so much of inland Australia relies. The surface streams of the Pilliga form part of the Murray-Darling Basin, running north into the Namoi River and thence into the Barwon-Darling system.
This ridiculous behaviour based on corporate greed and bully tactics must be stopped.
I ask that each person involved in the decision making processes here considers their integrity, their legacy, and their own sense of wellbeing because if this goes ahead disaster will follow and anyone who does their research into CSG Gas understands this.
Yours sincerely,
Brigid Mary Prain

Stop Santos mining in the Piliga before it's too late. It's not rocket science, it's respect and we have a right to protect the vulnerable. It's a disgrace that the elected government paid by us don't work on our behalf but on the behalf of mining giants like Santos, you should be ashamed.

I do strongly disagree to the planning of the drilling of 850 wells throughout the Great Artesian Basin in the Pilliga and will stand in the final push for the Pilliga

No to CSG

I do not consent to the long term destruction of Australian land and artesian basin for the short term gains of a corporate multinational organisation.

Coal seam gas has been rejected internationally and our governments at all levels must do the same.

As a voter, whom you are to represent, I do not consent!

I have attached a report from the US EPA which must be read by all stakeholders prior to making a decision on the future of my land. The US have damaged their soil and ground water.

It is NOT acceptable to view the mistakes of our neighbours, only to repeat them.

As an Australian citizen I am opposed to this project and all coal seam gas drilling as a method of fuel extraction.

The potential for far-reaching disaster is too great. The detrimental effects on ecosysystens that support well more than we could ever possibly be aware of, the ling term environmental damage, inescapable Pollution issues, and the massive deforestation and disruption to the last great forest of it's type.

In Europe and North America, it is common for governments to set aside recharge areas, like the Pilliga, as "groundwater well-head protection zones". This is based on the recognition that pollution of these areas can have a widespread impact on the whole groundwater system.

It seems that proper scrutiny and the inclusion of well informed science into decisions of the Pillaga area is sorely lacking, even though current data suggests Aquifers in the basin are far more complex and interactive than had ever been assumed. Depletion of aquifers is an issue. Contamination of aquifers is another.

Land holders in this region are unanimous in their opposition and condemnation of this project, why shouldn't they worry about unseen long-term impacts to ground water? This is not a small project, and with greater size comes markedly increased risk.

Government falsely claimed support from the independent chief scientist, and the intention seems to be to rush this project through.... despite it being the largest and one of the most controversial in NSW.

Your aversion to take leadership in critical issues such as conservation of echo-systems and climate change will haunt you forever. Why are we risking the long tern for a very limited short term benefit?

my position on this is how can any normal thinking person give this the go ahead. It poisons the water which is the most horrible thing to do every living thing needs water. We do you and your family do get it continues to be the little people to try to stop companies from the doing the easy way instead of the best way. GSG is not a cost effective way of energy but the people of NSW will be paying the price for many years to come if this project goes through.

Save our food bowl. Invest in renewables!!

I am appalled that a multinational company such as Santos with a very poor record in environmental concern is able to even make a submission to drill for coal seam gas in this
Precious region of the Pilliga.
Having formerly worked on oil tankers for Caltex, I personally can attest to the fact that these projects do not serve our community, it is simply a tool for these companies to make money for corporate shareholders, money which will never even trickle down to our local community

I am therefore strongly opposed to this application and look forward to our elected officials/politicians choosing sustainable and renewable energy projects in the future.

Sincerely
Paul William hemery

Who's interests is this project really in? Our children's and grandchildrens?
The great artesian basin is not ours to muck with. Take a deep breath and see if this project really sits right with your heart.

Gladys Berejiklian
Premier of NSW

Dear Premier,

I write to declare my deep concern about the plan Santos has on the table to build 850 coal seam gas wells in the Pilliga state forest.

The Pilliga coal seam gas project is a disaster for our climate, local bushland and wildlife and for the Traditional Owners and farmers who call the region home. The main reasons are -

* It is a safehaven for threatened wildlife:
The Pilliga is one of 15 nationally listed `biodiversity hotspots' and is vital to the survival of threatened species like the koala, spotted-tailed quoll, black-striped wallaby, eastern pygmy-possum, pilliga mouse and south-eastern long-eared Bat.

* Coal seam gas fuels dangerous climate change:
Methane is by far the major component of natural gas, and is a greenhouse gas 72 times more powerful than CO². CSG fields contribute to climate change through the leakage of methane during the production, transport, processing and use of coal seam gas.

* It risks our clean water:
The Narrabri gasfield poses a real risk to our two most precious water resources: the Great Artesian Basin and the Murray-Darling Basin. The area of the Great Artesian Basin with the highest recharge rates is almost entirely contained within the Pilliga East forest.

* The Gamilaraay Traditional Custodians are opposed:
There are hundreds of cultural sites as well as songlines and stories connecting the Gamilaraay to the forest and to the groundwater beneath. Gamilaraay people are deeply involved in the battle against CSG, and have told Santos they do not want their country sacrificed for a coal seam gas field.

* Bushfire risk will rise:
Methane flare stacks up to 50m high would be running day and night, even on total fire ban days. The Pilliga is already prone to severe bushfires, this project will increase the risk of ignition.

It is in the community and planet's interest to withhold or revoke any approval for such plans by a corporation which puts profit above all else.

There are numerous tested and sustainable alternatives to coal seam gas as a source of energy and I will that these are developed ahead of any currently proposed polluting and destructive mining processes.

Your sincerely,

Paul Payten

A project that poses huge risk to land, water and the climate. Fracking 850 coal seam gas wells throughout the great artesian basin is a high risk activity that will bring to the surface huge amounts of salt and chemicals, threatening water, farmland and livelihoods.
Santos has a tragic history of failure in the Pilliga, with at least 20 toxic waste water spills. This iconic forest is refuge for koalas, eastern Pygmy Possums & other threatened spiecies.
Industrial gas fields in this wilderness poses unacceptable threats to the environment...

Please do not go ahead with this. Please have consideration for the next generations of Australians and their right to have their country intact.

The mining for Coal seam gas in the Pilliga State Forest, NSW must not go ahead. Please. Threatened wildlife, danger to the climate, risk to clean water for human and agricultural use and increased bushfire will be the result if Santos is allowed to mine.

The real danger is that No-one Really knows what the long term effects will be.
Sincerely
Ian Bailey

A fragile environment such as we have in Australia must be treated with all the greatest care possible.
Mining for coal seam gas is an unknown danger to an ecosystem, but certainly a finite resource which will end one day and leave a barren wasteland.
The value of the Pilliga State Forest to Australians and Tourism will continue for ever if it is preserved.
Please do that!
Ian Bailey
NSW BUSH CARERS.