Narrabri Gas

I am a Gamilaroi/Uallaroi man from Walgett.
I am against CSG anywhere. The level of contempt from government for the environment is beyond belief. They have different values for different people.

NO CSG in NSW.

On behalf of the Executive Committee and 400+ members of Birding NSW (NSW FOC inc) I submit a strong objection to the application by Santos to build 850 coal seam gas mines in the Pilliga State Forest NSW.

Please do not allow it.
Sincerely
Ian Bailey
PS I could not attach my letter?

I am a Gamilaraay man and come from the Walgett area. The complete disregard that CSG companies have had for sacred areas of the Pilliga is absolutely reprehensible. This has also followed with a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of local people. People should come before profit. There are a multitude of different avenues that the government can take. Allowing CSG companies to put people's health at risk is horrid. This is a completely capilatist mentality where profit comes before people.

I am totally against the CSG operation in the Pilliga Region.
The natural environment needs to be kept

Dear Decision Makers,

I am writing to formally submit my objection to the Santos gasfield project as proposed in the Pilliga state forest, for the following reasons:

1. It is safehaven for threatened wildlife
With species like the koala, which is threatened with extinction in NSW by 2055, and another 1100 threatened species that share the same habitat, the Pilliga, as one of our nation's 'biodiversity hotspots' is crucial habitat in the protection of these animals and plants. Many of these animals are lynch pins in the ecosystem and their demise would cause total disruption to vital functions like pollination and insect control, and the stability of plant colonies.

2. Coal seam gas fuels dangerous climate change
After the hottest summer on record, the second coral bleaching event in 2 years running (an event not expected for another 20 years by conservative, scientific estimates), we really need to be working as hard as possible to scale back all greenhouse gas emissions, or we will all be screwed. 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. These leaks have also been under-reported by mining companies; recent measures have shown that CSG methane leakage is well above acceptable safe levels. Let me tell you: when it's 47 degrees in the sub-tropics, it's not natural. In my area farmers are desperate for water - our wet summer did not come, fruit is not setting, bat colonies are collapsing from heat exposure - climate change is a real threat to rural areas and the trickle down effect will be less food, less income, less stability.

3. It risks our clean water
This reason alone should pose enough of a serious threat that the project would be shelved permanently. 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 Murray-Darling basin is already under great stress from over-use and is one of our largest food growing places in Australia. And, you cannot get chemical toxins out of water without very great difficulty, if at all. Once it's in there, it's ruined. Are you trying to kill everything and everyone? That would strike me as criminal and worthy of trial in the Hague.

4. The Gamilaraay Traditional Custodians are opposed.
This one's personal: I have Gamilaraay relatives and this land is of extreme importance to them. (And really, according to the preceding reasons, is of great importance to all of us. Their protection of their Country is a great service to the entire nation and all creatures and organisms that inhabit it.)
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. I think we have had enough instances in this country of using and abusing Aboriginal land for the profiteering of a handful and the detriment of a people. Our souls are already on the line.
5. Bushfire risk will rise
Frankly, this reason frightens the hell out of me. Have you ever been near a bushfire? Methane flare stacks up to 50m high would be running day and night, even on total fire ban days. With the recent addition to the fire rating of the category 'catastrophic', this seems like madness to allow bare flames to exist continuously in an area already prone to severe bushfires. This project will increase the risk of ignition. Again, this seems like a criminal offence.

Additionally, it has been proven time and time again, emphatically, that the people don't want it, for the reasons stated above. I am horrified by Barnaby Joyce's suggestion that paying people would get them onside, but the Pilliga is a state-owned asset that belongs to every tax payer, and most of those people do not want the effects of coal seam gas, no matter how many carrots may be waved in front of our noses.

Victoria's and South Australia's recent announcements regarding renewables and the overwhelming and long resistance to the Adani coal mine, the Bentley blockade (of which I was a part), the constant rallying by concerned citizens against invasive gas and coal mining should start to mean something in the eyes (and brains?) of planners by now. WE DON'T WANT A FUTURE BASED ON FOSSIL FUELS BECAUSE THERE IS NONE.

I would suggest that you refuse this project, and use your considerable joined intellect and political power to support the rapid and economically viable, job-supporting, future-supporting and sensible expansion of renewable energy and our transition into a fossil fuel free world.

I do hope that you will listen to the people as well as the planet. In the long term there will we plenty of profit, if that has to be your only motivation.

I wish to oppose this due to the environmental impacts on the community.

1. The Narrabri Gas Project risks precious water sources, including the Great Australian Basin--Australia's largest groundwater aquifer.
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. In a worst-case scenario, the water removed for CSG extraction could reduce water pressure in the recharge areas--potentially stopping the free flow of waters to the surface at springs and bores across the whole Great Artesian Basin.¹

Creeks in the Pilliga run into the Namoi River--a part of the Murray Darling Basin. This system is vulnerable to contamination from drilling fluid spills and the salty treated water produced from the proposed 850 wells.

2. 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.

3. Farmers and other local community reject the project
Extensive community surveys have shown an average of 96% opposition to CSG. This stretches across a massive 3.2 million hectares of country surrounding the Pilliga forest, including 99 communities. Hundreds of farmers have participated in protest actions unlike any previously seen in the region.

4. The Narrabri Gas Project has a long history of spills and leaks of toxic CSG water--Santos cannot be trusted to manage the project safely
Santos has already contaminated a freshwater aquifer in the Pilliga with uranium at levels 20 times higher than safe drinking water guidelines, as well as lead, aluminium, arsenic and barium². In addition, there have been over 20 reported spills and leaks of toxic CSG water from storage ponds, pipes and well heads. Santos cannot be trusted.

5. The Pilliga is a haven 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. The forest is home to over 200 bird species and is internationally recognised as an Important Bird Area². The Santos gasfield would fragment 95,000 hectares of the Pilliga with well pads, roads, and water and gas pipelines--damaging vital habitat and threatening the survival of endangered species.

6. 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.

7. Human health is compromised by coal seam gas
A range of hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds can be released into the air from coal seam gas operations, including flaring of gas wells. The effects of volatile organic compounds vary, but can cause eye, nose and airway irritation, headache, nausea, dizziness and loss of coordination⁴. These impacts have been documented in human populations nearby to existing gasfields in Queensland, Sydney and in America.

8. The nation's premier optical astronomical observatory is at risk
The Siding Springs Observatory, situated in the Warrumbungles and adjacent to the Pilliga, is under threat from the Narrabri Gas Project due to light and dust pollution⁵. The area has been internationally recognised as a `dark sky park'⁶ and the 50m high gas flares proposed by Santos threaten the viability of the facility.

9. Thousands of tonnes of salt waste will result from the project
Santos has no solution for disposing of the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of salt that will be produced. Between 17,000 and 42,000 tonnes of salt waste would be produced each year. This industry would leave a toxic legacy in NSW.

10. Risk of fires would increase throughout the Pilliga's tinder-box conditions
Methane flare stacks up to 50m high would be running day and night, even on total fire ban days. The Pilliga is prone to severe bushfires. The project would increase ignition sources as well as extracting, transporting and storing a highly flammable gas right within this extremely fire-prone forest.


¹SoilFutures Consulting 2014, Great Artesian Basin Recharge Systems and Extent of Petroleum and Gas Leases. http://www.gabpg.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/GAB-Report1.pdf
²http://www.smh.com.au/environment/santos-coal-seam-gas-project-contaminates-aquifer-20140307-34csb.html
³BirdLife International (2017) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Pilliga http://www.birdlife.org
⁴Marion Carey Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), Air pollution from coal seam gas may put public health at risk The Conversation, November 20, 2012
⁵https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/21/siding-spring-observatory-threat-coal-seam-gas-light-pollution
⁶http://darksky.org/first-dark-sky-park-in-australia-designated/

This is wrong! There has to be another alternative!!

We need to stop destroying ecosystems and start investing in long term sustainable energy options. This poisons all of us.

We need to save our rainforests. We need to protect our future! We need to protect our children's future. Please! Please! Please look for alternatives

The effects of coal seam gas pollution has been widely documented. This proposal by Santos will cause environmental havoc to one of the purest sources of water that Australia has. The natural resources of water and the artesian basin should not be undervalued, nor bought with money. I strongly oppose this proposal for its environmental impact will cause devestation to Australia's natural resources.

Dear Sir/Madam

I strongly object to this project. The most precious resource we have is pristine environment and pristine water in particular.

Currently big business and large corporations are given precedence over existing community wishes, generational farmers, village and township businesses, organic farmers and wineries and weddings and tourism.

Whilst one large polluting business prevails, everyone else goes to the wall and loses financially and youth are forced out of their homes

Santos will mount a false argument how it will benefit the community. Their arguments are hollow. Their arguments are thousands of pages long, designed to divert attention.

We are custodians of this NSW, of Australia. Pass along a clean environment and jobs to young Australians

Regards
Lesley Willing

Id like to totally disagree with the Narrabri gas project

I am strongly opposed to the Narrabri Gas Project. I believe that tampering with the natural environment is extremely harmful and will have untold consequences for future generations, as well as adversely affecting those who live nearby coal seam gas fields in the present day. I will never support a government or private enterprise which is involved in this type of project.

As a former resident of the area I feel a strong need to oppose this project sure to a number of issues but primarily the threat it poses to Australia's prime agricultural land.

There are multiple reasons this project causes concern to myself and the community and why it continues to provoke ongoing opposition including but not limited to:

1. The Narrabri Gas Project risks precious water sources, including the Great Australian Basin--Australia's largest groundwater aquifer
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. In a worst-case scenario, the water removed for CSG extraction could reduce water pressure in the recharge areas--potentially stopping the free flow of waters to the surface at springs and bores across the whole Great Artesian Basin.¹

Creeks in the Pilliga run into the Namoi River--a part of the Murray Darling Basin. This system is vulnerable to contamination from drilling fluid spills and the salty treated water produced from the proposed 850 wells.

2. 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.

3. Farmers and other local community reject the project
Extensive community surveys have shown an average of 96% opposition to CSG. This stretches across a massive 3.2 million hectares of country surrounding the Pilliga forest, including 99 communities. Hundreds of farmers have participated in protest actions unlike any previously seen in the region.

4. The Narrabri Gas Project has a long history of spills and leaks of toxic CSG water--Santos cannot be trusted to manage the project safely
Santos has already contaminated a freshwater aquifer in the Pilliga with uranium at levels 20 times higher than safe drinking water guidelines, as well as lead, aluminium, arsenic and barium². In addition, there have been over 20 reported spills and leaks of toxic CSG water from storage ponds, pipes and well heads. Santos cannot be trusted.

5. The Pilliga is a haven 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. The forest is home to over 200 bird species and is internationally recognised as an Important Bird Area². The Santos gasfield would fragment 95,000 hectares of the Pilliga with well pads, roads, and water and gas pipelines--damaging vital habitat and threatening the survival of endangered species.

6. 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.

7. Human health is compromised by coal seam gas
A range of hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds can be released into the air from coal seam gas operations, including flaring of gas wells. The effects of volatile organic compounds vary, but can cause eye, nose and airway irritation, headache, nausea, dizziness and loss of coordination⁴. These impacts have been documented in human populations nearby to existing gasfields in Queensland, Sydney and in America.

8. The nation's premier optical astronomical observatory is at risk
The Siding Springs Observatory, situated in the Warrumbungles and adjacent to the Pilliga, is under threat from the Narrabri Gas Project due to light and dust pollution⁵. The area has been internationally recognised as a `dark sky park'⁶ and the 50m high gas flares proposed by Santos threaten the viability of the facility.

9. Thousands of tonnes of salt waste will result from the project
Santos has no solution for disposing of the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of salt that will be produced. Between 17,000 and 42,000 tonnes of salt waste would be produced each year. This industry would leave a toxic legacy in NSW.

10. Risk of fires would increase throughout the Pilliga's tinder-box conditions
Methane flare stacks up to 50m high would be running day and night, even on total fire ban days. The Pilliga is prone to severe bushfires. The project would increase ignition sources as well as extracting, transporting and storing a highly flammable gas right within this extremely fire-prone 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.
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.
Bushfire risk will rise

I am opposed to the CSG proposal to drill for gas in the Pilliga for the following reasons.
1) The Great Artesian Basin is a vital water source for much of outback Australia and would come under serious risk. There is an excellent report by Robert Banks that outlines these dangers.
2) The local custodians both indigenous and otherwise are opposed to the project.
3) There will be considerable negative impacts for the ecosystem and wildlife in the region.
I do not believe the future of energy in this country should involve recklessly endangering the environment and communities for corporate gain.
Thank you.

Dear Sir/Madam

The Pilliga is an important haven for many threatened species, and is a biodiversity 'hotspot', making it a very special and unique place in our state. It is crucial to th survival of hreatened species like the koala, spotted-tailed quoll, and black-striped wallaby.
CSG fields pose a real threat to the safety of our drinking water and farmland. For this reason many other CSG projects have been halted, as well as overwhelming opposition in rural and city areas. Anything that potentially threatens drinking water and farming is a very serious problem, and should not be considered.
Methane produced by CSG would be a huge contributor to climate change, and also poses an unacceptable fire risk. Traditional Aboriginal custodians are opposed to this proposal and their wishes should be taken into account.

I urge you to take this very serious issues into consideration.
Thank you

I object to Coal Seam Gas exploration and extraction on a number of basis.
1. The danger to the water table, which is real and would be irreversable.
2. That NSW does not need this type of Gas.
3. There is nothing in it for the taxpayers of NSW unless a large royalty is payable upfront.

I am opposed to the Narrabri Santos project has the Pillaga region on environmental and long term safety grounds. This is an ecologically sensitive issue and Santos have already demonstrated an inability to deliver ver such projects safely. There are long term implications that need to be researched and planned for which outweigh any benefits to the community. We need to conserve our assets- not sell off to multinational corporations. I am opposed to this project.