Narrabri Gas

I spent many years visiting Narrabri and appreciating the Pilliga for the unique ecosystem it is. More important are the aquifers below the surface.
Coal seam gas mining puts at risk the aquifers beneath this important ecological area - AND the many other places linked by groundwater. The Great Artesian Basin is an essential water supply for hundreds of farms and communities south of the PIlliga. Putting water supply at risk is a fools activity - it must be stopped immediately. The hydrogeology of the region is not accurately known. It is wiser and more sustainable to leave aquifers unpolluted. Underground water is too precious to many surface ecosystems and human communities to be contaminated or over-extracted. Do not mine the Pilliga.

Do any of you people really understand how valuable, fragile and important the Great Artesian Basin really is? How could you even consider risking it in this way? Coal Seam Gas is an environmental disaster!

The Great Artesian Basin cannot be compromised by gas extraction. Too many people across the country depend upon it for water. Although it may take many years for the practices of gas extraction to effect it, the Basin and all those who depend on it will suffer. Water is the most precious substance. Not gas. There are other less harmful ways of generating energy. No this is simply a money making exercise by greedy fossil fuel producers who will walk away leaving a God almighty mess behind them. This agreement lowed to proceed will be against the wishes and aspirations of Australians for a clean future.

Brian Armour

Coal seam gas is too risky.

I am utterly opposed to Narrabri gas project planned in our NSW Pilliga region. The decamation of this vital area in seeking to strip
Our country bare of the gas resources without regard for the value of the land, landmarks, protected animals, beauty, massive natural unspoilt water resource preserved there is astounding and bordering on criminal mismanagement of Australia's resources. The decision makers report to us, Australia's citizens. It's not up to them to make this life altering decision in back rooms without first advising all of Australia and giving each one a chance to agree or not to this planned destruction.

Do not drill anywhere.

No environment - no US!

Lets stop this Coal Seam Gas once & for all...!

The Narrabri Gas Project should be stopped due to catastrophic ecological, social and economic risks.
The site is located where the Great Artesian Basin recharges.
Coal Seam Gas fracking has been proven to be a high risk endeavour, frequently permanently damaging aquifers and natural resources such as agricultural land. Once the toxins are in the system, there is no way of removing them.
This risks outweigh any short-term economic gains, and the long-term economic and social costs associated with remediation are insupportable.
There is no social license to pursue this project. It must be stopped.

I am concerned about the environmental impact of such a project, particularly the potential contamination of groundwater in the area.

Please keep Australia pristine

Clean air and clean water are needed for the survival of the human race.

Please don't drill coal seam gas wells throughout the Pilliga State Forest.

I say no to the submission for the Narrabri Gas Project in the Pilliga Region. I object on environmental and cultural grounds. Project will contribute to environmental degradation and significantly damage the bushland in the area and the communities connected to that land. Other more sustainable and environmentally sound options need to be considered.

I strongly object against any drilling in the Pillaga region, the damage caused, the environmental implications to water resources, landscape, wildlife are incalculable.

This is environmental destruction and political corruption at its finest. Destroying our world for a quick profit and cash in the back pocket of politicians and businessmen. Your actions here today will only result in tremendous problems and difficulty for the generations of tomorrow. Sleep well knowing you contributed to the misery filled lives of your descendants as they grow up in a polluted, barren wasteland.

we need renewables not backwards looking ground invasions and corrupt mining donations to pollies

Its time the NSW government listened to the wishes of the vast majority of the population. We do NOT want coal seam gas extraction to take place. We do not want to damage the water table and risk other associated environmental damage. australia has vast offshore gas reserves which are exported at our cost.
Lets use some of this gas for our domestic use. Do what is right and listen to the people.

I want the fossil fuel industry to stop wrecking our environment. Whether it's Piliga Forest or anywhere, I don't want this damage done. I have seen the videoes of what damage it does to water in Australia and other countries They are just profiteering. I want solar investment, because this is safe energy and doesn't wreck the water supply or the pristine environment. I don't want Santos destroying the Pilliga forest.

The past failures of such projects is enough to not waste resources on a failed ideology. There is no benefit to such programs as they effect future generations that have no say in the matter. Other alternative exist that would solve energy problems that do not require permanent destruction of a non replaceable environment. I vote, so if enough voters object the problem will fix itself, politicians will just not get their seats back in parliament.

In 1959 in a South Australian primary school room, I learned about the Great Artesian Basin. Not just the ARTESIAN Basin, but the GREAT Artesian basin. It was hailed as the wellspring of the nation and that claim was in no way hyperbolic - it was indisputable fact, both then and now.

Unfurled on a roller-blind map of the driest continent on Earth, the Great Artesian Basin loomed large. Our young eyes traced the spiderweb of creeks, rivers that drained in and out of it - evocative names like the Diamantina, the Channel Country, the MIGHTY Murray-Darling swelled our little hearts with pride. Love of country was reinforced daily at assembly on asphalt quadrangles, where we saluted the flag and sang, like a sacred mantra, Dorothea MacKellar's famous poem, "My Country". To this day, I still love a sunburnt country and every drop of its precious groundwater, the delicate web of its interconnected river and reliant eco-systems and the mighty GREAT Artesian Basin, which has lost none of its significance and importance to the sustainability and water security of the country.

To even entertain the notion of putting the Great Artesian Basin at risk is, in my opinion, no less than reckless negligence. To favourably accept an Environmental Impact Assessment from a company whose environmental record of toxic spillage and leaks is blatant and easily dismissed by paying a paltry fine here and there, is a betrayal of our country, its people and its wildlife.

To pretend that this potential pillage of the Pilliga forest by Santos is acceptable, in the name of short-term profits, is a travesty and, in my (and many others') opinion, tantamount to environmental vandalism. Any approval would ratify the worst possible consequences, which will affect not only a precious remnant of Australian bushland, but also threatens the security of Australia's precious water supply. This project has no benefit to the long-term, future well-being of Australia and must not be approved. We must remember that any damage to the structure of Great Artesian Basin is IRREVERSIBLE.

The protection of our rivers is paramount. You say so yourself! The Australian Government website says, and I quote, "it is recognised that any water resource management has to prioritise the sustainability of the river environment - the river of life" (http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-river-catchments_ accessed 24/02/17). If the Narrabri Gas project is approved, then the words of this government will be exposed as no more than empty, hypocritical rhetoric and the exhortation of the "river of life" just another hollow, cynical catchphrase.

I believed in that pull-down map in 1959, I believed in Dorothea Mackellar's heart-felt poem. My belief is being eroded by cynicism, and I truly wish it wasn't; but, when political rhetoric proves, again and again to be little more than weasel words lacking in any semblance of integrity, I despair.

Perhaps decency will prevail. I won't even elaborate on climate change and the "bigger picture" in a submission to government when current policies seem to lack foresight, imagination, courage, intelligence and just plain common sense. There is a sense that these qualities are being obfuscated by deference to the influence of companies whose predominant interests lie in international markets and this situation is not conducive to the protection of our country's fragile eco-system and natural resources.

To add weight to this argument, surveys reveal that 96% of the community in the regions surrounding the Pilliga oppose the Narrabri Gas Project. One would hope that government would respect, if not the country itself then, at least, the very people whom they purport to represent. There is no social licence for this project.

For the sake of the Great Artesian Basin and our sustainable future, I submit my objection to the Narrabri Gas Project. Please consider it carefully and, dear reader, draw upon your personal integrity to support and respect our country, protect its vulnerable, integrated water systems and (as the Australian Government itself advises) "prioritise [their] sustainability".

Yours sincerely
C. Jarvis Sanderson
Uralla NSW