Narrabri Gas

At a time when the world urgently needs to transition away from fossil fuels, opening up a giant new gasfield is madness--especially when it risks our water, our farms and our endangered species.
I beg you to refuse the Santos submission.
The Pillaga is an important source of the waters of the Namoi, and therefore the Murray Darling system and the Artesian Basin.
During the exploration phase in the Pilliga, Santos has already caused over 20 reported spills and leaks of toxic CSG water, including the contamination of an aquifer with uranium.
Do not let this project go ahead.

1. The Narrabri Gas Project risks precious water sources, including the Great Artesian 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.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.

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.


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

We have seen the devastating effects of CSG mining in the US. Why do we insist on following in their footsteps and raping our natural resources - please start to take serious steps to protect our environment for our kids and theirs. Business and profits are not the be all and end all of civilization.

I strongly object to this Mining, Petroleum, extraction project in the Piliga/Narrabri area - Project SSD 6456

Having experienced first hand the environment of the Pilliga area I believe it will have unacceptable, destructive, long lasting, indeed irrevocable impacts upon the natural environment, and on farming land.

Physical clearing for infrastructure will result in the destruction of important native vegetation and the habitat this provides for native fauna. This region cannot afford to lose more of its native vegetation cover. Pipeline corridors will also open up otherwise vegetated areas for the easy movement of feral animals, which are a significant threat to our native fauna. Our record in this country for destroying both native vegetation and native fauna in the interests of short term profit is appalling.

The risks to ground water availability and quality are also too high for this to be considered an acceptable project. Ground water contamination would significantly adversely affect both the natural and farming environment. I do not accept EIS assurances - essentially assertions based on hope - that there will not be significant impacts.

I urge the Department of Planning and Environment to reject this development proposal

I am in full support of this project. I cannot see any reason why it shouldn't go ahead. The growth and opportunities this project creates is massive and can go along way. I have seen other Oil and Gas fields and companies and there is hardly any impact on the environment whatsoever because all the companies take utmost care and respect towards environment. Imagine the jobs, imagine how many contractors can get solid work, imagine how many can work as sub contractors. The Town will flourish. There will be lots of people movement. All shops and markets will flourish. I SUPPORT!!

I am writing to register my protest to any further gas exploration in the Pilliga Forest area. The whole concept is illogical and this tract of forest is a valuable resource for its beauty and biological diversity.
It will be damaged irreversibly if gas exploration goes ahead and the potential damage to artesian waters is a crime.

I have no hesitation in supporting the SANTOS CSG proposal because:
Australia needs a reputable supplier for its own requisites.
SANTOS have provided both the Narrabri and wider communities genuine access to its operations so people can see and understand how this proposal is to work - this includes regular conducted tours to the site, ease of access to its offices for information and regular updates in both the newspapers and on TV.
SANTOS will provide long term employment for our area, especially for our youth. This in turn will flow across into a stable, viable local economy.
SANTOS have already injected funding and human resources into the community in its support of local projects, schools and sporting activities to name but a few.

I object to the Narrabri Gas Project as it:
1) threatens the natural and conservation values of the Pilliga Scrub, which is one of the last remaining woodlands on the western slopes of NSW. Gas wells, roads and other infrastructure will directly destroy part of this unique bushland. Pollution of groundwater and soil will be an ongoing threat to the natural values of this area. Endangered species will be directly threatened by the loss and degradation of their habitat.
2) It threatens the Great Artesian Basin which provides water security to much of the Agricultural land in the area. The Pilliga is an important area of recharge for the basin. Loss of water quality and loss of availability of water from the Basin is a real risk with the proposed gas project.
3) The proposed project is a threat to many cultural sites of the traditional custodians the Gamilaroy people.
In addition there are numerous other health and environmental threats from the gas project, such as salination of soil due to salt discharge and loss of air quality from escaping gases.
Therefore I urge the NSW government to reject the proposed Narrabri Gas Project

I'm supporting the local custodians of this area, the Gamilaraay people and I say no to this proposal that threatens land and culture.

The Narrabri Gas Project is unnecessary, culturally insensitive and destructive, and environmentally damaging.
Please do not proceed with this project.

Please note this submission is being made in a private capacity as a member of the Narrabri community, and someone who has worked in the oil and gas industry for over a decade and has a good knowledge of the industry. The points and comments made below are my own and are not being made on behalf of Santos.

I have lived and worked in Narrabri for over five years and I live locally, participating in the community and enjoying the lifestyle that Narrabri offers.

I am very proud that I work for Santos as, although the company is relatively new to NSW, it's been going for over 60 years in South Australia and nearly as long in Queensland. In those areas, Santos is known and respected as a company that has a very good record of safe work practices, good environmental management and a great track record of contributing back to the communities where Santos operates.

As an employee of Santos locally in Narrabri working on the Narrabri Gas Project on a day-to-day basis, I see how good the Santos safety measures are (both for personal injury and environmental damage mitigation), how well the Santos systems are being monitored, implemented and adhered to and how good the staff are contractors are at implementing and putting these measures in place on a daily basis.

We have some of the most stringent and rigorous conditions of any industry in NSW, with teams of people from Government and the community ensuring that everything that we do is in accord with those conditions. We engage independent experts to ensure that our planning and implementation of activities will not cause environmental harm, from ecological and cultural heritage assessments to hydrogeological modelling.

It is with this in mind that I am confident and comfortable that the practices being undertaken are in no way going to cause any harm to the environment and that this project will have minimal environmental impact with a number of benefits for our Narrabri community.

These benefits are at both a local and national level, on a number of fronts including:

* Providing an increased gas supply that has been earmarked only for the domestic market to help alleviate issues with the current energy crisis / gas shortage;
* Providing increased jobs locally with over 1300 jobs in construction and 200 ongoing permanent jobs once in production;
* Providing an on-flow of jobs throughout Australia in the oil and gas industry as the support network for the jobs locally is required throughout head offices in relation to things such as admin support, engineering, procurement, HR, legal support etc.;
* Providing financial benefits to the local, state and national economy through an increase in community sponsorships and funding through the community grants fund, increase in taxes through royalties and wage taxes;
* Providing another industry to help "drought-proof" the local economy;
* Providing further opportunity for science and researchers to monitor the industry and help gain baseline data;
* Providing an additional source of income to farmers / landholders who have infrastructure on their properties

I am proud to be part of the Narrabri Gas Project and have a small part in being able to develop a gas industry in NSW as this is energy from our own backyard that will help support my local town through economic activity but will also contribute to the State by having a NSW gas supply and the royalties from the sale of gas hopefully contributing to keeping services and facilities going in the bush.

I am therefore comfortable in putting my name to support this project from both a local and national perspective, and can only see benefits in it progressing.

Bill Wood

I totally and wholeheartedly object to the Narrabri Gas Project . Australia does not need another gas field we need to exploit our green energy alternatives like sun and wind for ourselves. We should not be extracting from the earth anywhere near our water table. Our fresh water is our most precious asset for the whole of the country. Without fresh water we die and so does all life. This is one of the few remaining biodiversity hotspots we cannot afford to lose it for our identity to be preserved now and for the future. We do not need this project .

I object in the strongest terms to any mining or industrial activity that threatens to pollute an aquifier, including the Narrabri Gas Project.

If the planning and environment department grants permission for a mining company with a proven track record of polluting an aquifier to go ahead and risk much worse pollution, that government is undermining its own legitimacy as an organisation that is supposed to protect critical natural resources such as water.

The public cannot realistically expect a mining company to care about our water, which is precisely why we need our government to protect that water on behalf of all of us. Please ensure that your decisions result in the safeguarding of this most critical natural resource, with zero risk of further pollution.

Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas and Mining
Uralla 2358
19/5/17

Att: Executive Director, Resource Assessments
Dept of Planning and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney 2001

This is a submission to the Narrabri Gas EIS

We object to this project

Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas and Mining is asking PAC to ensure the Pilliga Forest, the largest remaining temperate woodland in eastern Australia is protected for future generations.
http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=6456
We are concerned that there is no such thing as a coal seam gas well that does not eventually leak, this has been proven in the USA.
US EPA investigation of water contamination in 23 drinking water wells near a natural gas extraction site in Wyoming concluded that both inorganic and organic compounds associated with hydraulic fracturing have contaminated the aquifer at or below the depths used for domestic water supply in the Pavillion area.
A number of synthetic organic compounds were detected including BTEX and isopropanol (biocide, surfactant, used in breakers, in foaming agents), diethylene glycol (foaming agent), triethylene glycol (solvent), tert-butyl alcohol (known breakdown product of methyl tert-butyl ether (fuel additive) and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (gel breaker used in hydraulic fracturing) plus diesel and gasoline organics.
The detections of organic chemicals were more numerous and at higher concentrations in the deeper of the monitoring wells. Detection of high concentrations of benzene, xylenes, gasoline range organics, diesel range organics, and total purgeable hydrocarbons in ground water samples from hallow monitoring wells near pits indicated that they a source of shallow ground water contamination. The report also found that elevated levels of dissolved methane in domestic wells generally increase in those wells in closer proximity to gas production wells.
(http://www.ntn.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/UCgas_report-April-2013.pdf)
Santos have already contaminated at least one aquifer in the Pilliga Forest, and nothing in the EIS convinces our group that there will not be more spills and aquifer connectivity. All concrete eventually fails, especially in a heavily saline environment.
The risk to The Great Artesian basin is too great. This valuable ground water must be protected.
We ask that you reject the Narrabri Gas project.
Yours sincerely
Michael Forester
Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas and Mining

The government's intention to allow the widespread extraction of coal seam gas is alarming.

We should be doing all we can to protect the natural environment, not pillaging it for a short lived financial windfall.

Growing research and investment in renewable energy sources demonstrates that coal seam gas has no future, so why inflict irreparable damage on the land for a dying fuel source.

Please stop it now.

With the future for the planet AND an innovative more-employed society in Australia, being renewable sources of energy I strongly oppose any mining in the Pilliga.

Certainly the risks posed by gas extraction are unacceptable to the local communities, farming enterprises, local environments and the integrity of the underground aquifers.

We need to be transitioning away from fossil fuels. Please don't ruin the future for the sake of short-term monetary gains.

KNAG NENW
Armidale 2350
19/5/17

Att: Executive Director, Resource Assessments
Dept of Planning and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney 2001

This is a submission to the Narrabri Gas EIS

We object to this project

Knitting Nannas against gas New England North West is asking PAC to recommend that NSW government to buy back gas exploration licences covering the Pilliga Forest to ensure the largest remaining temperate woodland in eastern Australia is protected for future generations.
Pilliga forest is a refuge for koalas, eastern pygmy possums, black striped wallaby, Pilliga mouse and a host of other threatened species that are endemic to the Pilliga Forest or have disappeared from so much of NSW
The creation of an industrial gas field in the Pilliga poses an unacceptable threat to native animals and critical ground water supplies.
There have already been at least 20 spills of produced water and many environmental breaches ever since exploration and exploration drilling began.
If the NSW government approves this project, these impacts will be scaled up massively, with potentially catastrophic consequences for wildlife and water supplies.
Gas giant Santos's Environmental Impact Statement for its proposal to create an 850-well gas field in the Pilliga forests does not adequately address management of endangered wildlife
Yours sincerely
Jan Brahe
Knitting Nannas Against Gas, New England North West

We, the people of Australia at this time, must preserve the water resources and ecology of this land on which so many people and so much vital flora and fauna rely. It would be criminal to risk those groundwater basins to the (frequently shown to be) unsafe practices of the Santos and the Narrabri Gas Project. Nearly all the farmers of the region and the native peoples have made it clear they object to this corruption of vital land. Please do not approve this destructive misuse of important land.

Santos has already polluted the Pilliga area. I am against establishment of the wells as it will destroy the fabric of the Pilliga and the wildlife dependent on it. We have enough gas already being extracted in Australia. This development is an Australian project not exclusively for NSW use. To say we do not have enough gas in NSW is a smoke screen for Santos to get permission to drill. They have already proven to be unreliable, we do not want any more polluting activities to occur in the Pilliga turning the area into a wasteland. I have spent in the past, 30+ years much time enjoying the naturalness of this unique area and I do not want to see its fabric destroyed, in anyway further.

After following this issue over the last three years, the industry and this project, I see no reason to oppose the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project.