Narrabri Gas

NO TO CSG

There have been too many pollution leaks into the forest, with the obvious dead trees around. The government should be concerned about the clear danger to groundwater and nearby farmlands.

I object to all aspects of the Narrabri Gas Project. I am a resident of South Australia, not New South Wales, but the ramifications of this decision affect us all.
It should be enough to decide it that the Gamilaraay Traditional Custodians are unwaveringly opposed. It should be enough that local farming communities are opposed.
This is a huge project, and that makes it a huge decision. The projected environmental impact is clearly and significantly negative and far-reaching.
Don't make this decision based on short-sighted convenience or expediency. Decide for the future. Reject the Narrabri Gas Project.

As a poor person who aspires to be awesome, healthy, rich and influential, who along with us-all exists in the here and now; Please, Please, Please keep Australia Australian and Nurture its lands, peoples and surrounds, realistically and fairly.
Stop selling our futures, land and resources to foreigners.
We only have this one planet.
We only have this one life.
Be Kinder to yourselves.
Be True to yourselves.
Love yourselves without pretention but none-the-less protect yourselves because the only things that are actually real is birth, life and death.
Trust nothing but nature and nature tells us if the Narrabri Gas Project goes ahead (and all the other ones of like-kind that are in motion or emerging) then you've done yourselves an irreversible injustice. And you might as well just drop that bloody bomb, it'll save everyone a lot of heartache.
Just saying! unless of course we as a species collectively have discovered/come to the realisation that the earths internalised gases need extraction and therefor need to be utilised by the economic system to maintain the status quo!
Who's to know?
You run the show!
Let me Know :)

Santos cannot be trusted. -they have 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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.
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

1. The project threatens precious water sources, including the Great Artesian Basin--Australia's largest groundwater aquifer. This threat is real and has been demonstrated internationally on numerous occasions.

2. The traditional owners oppose the project.

3. An overwhelming majority of farmers and other local community members reject the project.


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.

5. The Pilliga is a haven for threatened wildlife
The Pilliga is one of 15 nationally listed `biodiversity hotspots'

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.

7. Human health is compromised by coal seam gas
A range of hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds can be released into the air

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.

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.

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 truth is what we do to nature and the earth we will pay for, no matter when or how. To disrupt, destroy and desecrate the top of the landscape as a re-charge area and underground water supplies is beyond belief.
We are all responsible for the way we treat not only ourselves but the earth, animals and plants which have been given to us so we can evolve. To destroy any of these natural elements is against universal law - cause and effect. Mother Earth has plenty of ways to bring this law into effect - cyclones, floods, fires, earthquakes, etc. and the force of these is increasing because us humans are totally irresponsible just because we are greedy and corrupt.
Can we live with less gas? Yes we can because we already grossly waste what we have and do not appreciate the gifts of nature. If we continue this trend we will be faced with more catastrophes by way of the earth's response.
Obviously if these gas applications are approved one of the foremost effects will be on water supply over a quarter of Australia. That will mean we will have a disaster as far as economics is concerned as just one example and then we will all be faced with the inevitable loss of our comfort and addiction to materialism.
Also the political landscape will be changed for ever, and it needs to be if the people of the land do not support these projects and they are not heard and responded to then we will have a change in the political scene (which is already happening) and we will return to government by, for and of the people and not dictatorships by large corporations and their lobbying activities.
This applies to all of us, no matter who we are, we are all responsible for our decisions.
Yours sincerely, Susan Wilson

The Pilliga is a vital environment.

The sandstone under the Pilliga is a watershed for the Great Artesian Basin, any damage to this area could potentially risk depressurising the basin - and leak toxic water.

Short term commercial gains are a small reward for the long term environmental damage that will result.
I urge Government to take a strong position on this issue and help protect the interests of all australians - Im sure santos will survive - im not so sure about the Pilliga and the communities that depend on it .

our government is a joke

I am lodging a simple submission to say that i oppose Santos' Narrabri gas Project. I submit thate request that Coal Seam Gas Mining be banned permanently in NSW.

In my I submission quote Uncle Bill a Bowra Elder, "If we do not care for Mother Earth, she will not care for us". I add that our water supply is a finite resource and that, there will be wars over as there are in Palestine / Israel. I urge you to cease mining Coal Seam Gas. I do not support the project. Thank you.

Dear Planning NSW,

Please do not approve this project.

I ask this for the following reasons:

1. This type of resource extraction has been documented to have significant detrimental effects for farmers and local water and land systems. Please look after our farmers and land.

2. The significant wildlife in the area.

3. The waste water created.

4. The detrimental consequences of this type of resource extraction in the past despite compliance with environmental protection rules.

Thanks you.

I strongly object to the Pilliga CSG project, I believe that prime agricultural land, koala habitat and ground water will be negatively compromised if it goes ahead.
Food and water are without doubt 2 of the most important resources for our nation.
The koala is an iconic (and threatened) species and must be protected.
I thought the proposal was a joke. May history consign it to the joke book!

Pristine areas should be preserved.coal seam gas (or any industry that alters ecosystems in an uncontrolled and careless fashion ) will not pay for the restoration of the damage after the gas runs out.
we have seen it so many times old contracts lasting many years not being subject to progressive standards of environmental protection let alone current ones) make a joke of the whole thing and are beyond political rescue.
unless the full cost of restoration is included in contracts no one should be allowed to plunder public land for private gain

I wish to register my opposition to the proposed plans by Santos to drill in the Pilliga Forest for coal seam gas.
My opposition is based on evidence of irreversible ecological and biodiversity destruction, displacement and harm to native animal species, destruction of sacred sites, and CSG's significant contribution to waste and pollution that will result from the proposed plan. The proposed method of dealing with so called toxic "waste water" is also unacceptable.

This is a beautiful and unique area of NSW. It should not be desecrated by Santos.

It is totally unforgivable to pump chemicals into the ground which will poison every living thing for a very long time to come. Have a really good look at what has happened in America and they will one day soon have to admit their mistake as it grows bigger by the day with no end in sight. The answer is simple and that answer is NO COAL SEAM GAS !

This development may have adverse impacts on the newly designated "dark sky park" i the Warrumbungles

Save our farmers and land

stop the filthy coal seam gas mining

This is messing with the underground water in a unsafe way! Great care must be taken with water and the future available ability for future human and animals. Australia has much sunlight, very suitable for solar power. Please think, selling off Australia's gas just for profit at the expense of our land is shortsighted thinking.