Narrabri Gas

My name is Pam Barrett and I have been a resident of Narrabri for 38 years. My husband was born in Narrabri and his family has lived in the district for over 90 years. I wish to object to the Narrabri Gas Project (NGP).
I am a mother of three children who were raised in Narrabri and I am now a grandmother of five. Narrabri has been a wonderful place to bring up a family, with a small caring community, ample space for children and within close access to Mount Kaputar National Park and the Pilliga State Forest, which has been perfect for bushwalking and camping.
I have long been involved in a voluntary capacity in the community, from pre- school and school committees to the local Tourist Board, Meals on Wheels, ADFAS (a national organization encouraging the arts), the hospital auxiliary kiosk and the Narrabri Hospital Community Committee, amongst others. Our community is very dear to my heart and I have supported it in as many ways as possible.
I have not found it possible to review the whole NGP EIS and hence cannot comment on much of it. I will limit the grounds for my objection to social and health issues, which are of major concern to me.
Unfortunately our community has undergone massive social changes since the arrival of Santos and the NGP. We now have a divided community, based on greed. Santos has encouraged this base element, seeking to win over the community by donations and sponsorship, but this has only divided the community.
Numerous organisations have not been able to resist the temptation of the money offered, the most recent being the 2017 Narrabri Show (see the Narrabri Courier, 9th May2017). However, many in the community see this largess as bribery, with the result that shoppers boycott Santos supported businesses. Santos sponsors local sporting teams which then have to wear the Santos logo. Some parents have refused to let their sons play for the junior teams of the Santos Blue Boars rugby club, for example, as they do not wish them to pull on the sponsored jerseys. Those players joined other teams in the competition or did not play at all. Unfortunately small voluntary organisations and sporting teams succumb to the money.
This influence has even extended to the Narrabri and District Chamber of Commerce. The President of the Chamber took on the role of a public relations officer for Santos, arranging complimentary meals at the local Chinese restaurant with selected invited guests, on behalf of the Chamber (but financed by Santos). He also benefits financially from Santos, being the owner of the office and adjoining conference room which Santos rents from him in the main street (A. Moody, Santos, personal communication 17th May 2017).
A first ever street procession protest was held in Narrabri as far back as November 2013 and locals have continued to gather outside the Santos office on a number of occasions and joined protests in the forest.
Our small and previously cohesive community started to divide soon after the arrival of Santos, with the subject of coal seam gas now being avoided in conversations between friends. Arguments on both sides of the issue rage in the local paper. Two prolific writers to the local paper, both working for gas industry PR firms, and based in Adelaide and Melbourne (now Sydney) respectively, flood the local paper's letters column with claims of a gas shortage and the need for Narrabri's gas. These statements have since been well exposed as false, even by the Prime Minister, who has finally realized that the gas companies are exporting domestic gas and thus causing a shortage and price increase.
Another example of Santos' social divisiveness occurred at our local golf club which has been sponsored by Santos. The club had committed to a booking from the North West Alliance group for a routine meeting on 27th February 2016. Santos' head office became aware of the meeting through social media and contacted the local office, which then asked the golf club "what are you going to do about it?" They also made clear that the club's renewal application for sponsorship was under consideration at that very time (A. Moody, personal communication). The golf club staff felt that they had no option but to cancel the booking (R. Stokes, S. Shields, personal communication). The North West Alliance had to find another venue at the last minute.
This is NOT the community where I raised my family and this has only come about by Santos trying to gain a social licence by influencing the community with financial contributions.
My involvement with the local health committee has given me concerns about health issues raised by Santos in their EIS. Our local medical facilities are under-staffed and overworked and an influx of additional workers would put an extra burden on an already stretched system. Staff vacancies are unable to be filled and the hospital budget under the New England Health system is always precarious. There is no guarantee that Fly In/Fly Out workers would always source their medical needs from their place of permanent residence. Any major medical emergency would first have to be handled locally. It has always been difficult to attract doctors to Narrabri and district and foreign trained doctors have been the solution. At present in Narrabri we have only one Australian born doctor, Dr. Moroney, and he is now in his 70's. Mental health facilities are in short supply and, to accommodate additional workers with mental health and addiction problems, a significant increase in funding would be necessary. This is in addition to other health related air pollution issues.
Air pollution from coal seam gas activities is dangerous and research has found that such illnesses as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, asthma, hypertension and renal disease are prevalent. And some of these gas wells would be only five km from the edge of town and 10 km from our local hospital.
To spend a weekend camping or bushwalking in the Pilliga Forest with our family was always a special treat. The last occasion we tried, on 6th July 2014, our vehicles were trailed along the public forest roads by Santos vehicles. Not only were our vehicles filmed by Santos personnel when we stopped, young children in our group were also filmed. When we asked that they desist filming and harassing us, the Santos personnel simply stated that they had permission from the Narrabri police. We felt entirely threatened and our enjoyment of the forest was lost forever.
The prospect of 900 gas wells to be drilled, as well as the additional infrastructure, traffic, air pollution, flaring gas wells and security personnel makes these excursions unthinkable. And this is without taking into consideration the damage to the environment and wildlife.
With the prospect of the Narrabri Gas Project proceeding, Santos claims they have a social licence to extract our gas in our environment. The Chairman of the Miles Chamber of Commerce spoke in Narrabri in 2016 and told of the consequences on local housing (after the boom subsides), of the town being turned into a dormitory of social housing, and the breakdown in society (lack of voluntary organisations, service clubs, increased crime and drug problems, older families moving away etc.) as has happened in Chinchilla and Miles. If this is the consequence of the Narrabri Gas Project creating health and environment problems and our community having its soul removed by the extractive industries, I would not wish my children and grandchildren to live here.
Hence a family's involvement in the district for over 90 years would come to an end for the Corporate and Government policy of
Short term gain for long term pain.

Should this project proceed, it will be remembered as the cause of an unfortunate time in Narrabri's history - one that could have been avoided with foresight and planning for renewables. The last thing the world needs now is coal seam gas - methane - one of the world's deadliest greenhouse gases.

I object to the Narrabri Gas EIS

My concerns and objections are set out below:

Water:

It 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 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.

There are 4000 bores used for domestic, stock, and irrigation water that are dependent on the Pilliga aquifer in the Namoi area. EIS states there will be draw down of 0.5 metres due to the project. What guarantee is there that this won't be more? Santos continuously makes statements about no connection between the coal seam and aquifers but if there is no connection and bores are unaffected why will there be draw down? Drilling will shatter rock and well integrity cannot be guaranteed so pathways will be possible.

Another statement in the EIS "the project area is not located in a major recharge area for the GAB," and that the project is "some distance" from the Namoi recharge area. This is false, misleading and plainly incorrect. If the project area is not a "major" recharge area (which I dispute) then it must be a minor recharge area otherwise Santos would state that it is not a recharge area at all.
It is misleading to not state the actual distance between the project and Namoi recharge. The Namoi River runs through Narrabri and as stated elsewhere in the EIS this is less than 20kms from the project. This landscape is connected from the Nandewar Ranges across the Pilliga to the Warrumbungle Mountains. The project absolutely sits above the Pilliga recharge of the GAB and as such poses a serious existential risk to it and other aquifers and all those thousands of people and agricultural producers who depend on it.

Santos continually claim that the Narrabri Gas project will not impact the recharge zone of the Great Artesian Basin because the gas is located in a `low' recharge zone.18 This is untrue and there are copious amounts of peer reviewed literature available to the public that proves without a doubt that drilling activity in the project area will have an impact on the recharge zone.

Claims that aquifer interconnectivity does not occur have also been proven to be unreliable, there is no data for the project area and this in itself is the fault of the proponent and should be remedied before any further well bores are drilled, aquifer interconnectivity does occur in other areas and there is no reason it would not occur in the complex geology beneath the project area.

Harm has already occurred (aquifers have been damaged) - this harm cannot be healed, there is no certainty that the underground water systems are not damaged beyond repair from the previous exploration activity of Eastern Star Gas and Forcenergy, and large fracks have occurred, product water has been spilled and dieback areas are becoming more apparent both along Bohena creek and in the forest areas, also, the fragmentation of habitat is a serious threat to the biodiversity of NSW' biggest inland forest

There is also the risk of contamination of the ground water. In the past there have been at least 22 spills of contaminated water in the Pilliga Forest. As this contaminated produced water makes it's way to the GAB there is already risk that contamination will occur with around 50 CSG wells. With 850 Gas wells Santos have contaminated at least one aquifer already.

The stygofauna in the ground water are important to maintaining healthy The stygofauna in the ground water are important to maintaining healthy clean ground water. These sensitive crustaceans have not been considered in the Santos EIS, despite their importance in maintaining connectivity of aquifers, and cleaning the water. It is doubtful that they will survive a salty environment in the event of a spill.

Despite improved management of the produced water Santos cannot guarantee that there will not be further spills. As with other projects pipes break. Bushfires, floods and aging cause pipes to deteriorate and will cause further spills. Looking at the history of this project it is extremely unlikely that Santos will not cause further contamination of ground water with 850 or more wells.


Health:

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.
"Despite the rapid expansion of CSG developments, the health impacts have not been adequately researched, and effective regulations that protect public health are not in place. There is a lack of information on the chemicals used and wastes produced, insufficient data on cumulative health impacts, and a lack of comprehensive environmental monitoring and health impact assessments. In circumstances where there is insufficient evidence to ensure safety, the AMA recommends that the precautionary principle should apply. This is essential given the threat of serious and irreversible harms to human health."

Dr Steve Hambleton, President of the Australian Medical Association, May 2013

Mental, emotion and spiritual health:

When physical health is affected for long periods of time it causes mental and emotional stress resulting in diminished relationships with family friends and the connection with the community.
The short sightedness of this project will cause damage to the identity of the Australian spirit connecting Australians to the unique plant and wildlife species, and the lucky country with clean air, water and living.

The damage to the spirit when there is no longer clean air, clean water and soil and land that plants can grow has not been measured or accounted for.

Climate Change and Air Quality:

It will lead to large deliberate and fugitive emissions of methane, adding to climate change.
The amount of methane and other emissions will cause the quality of the air to be diminished and contribute to climate change - of methane - "It is a powerful greenhouse gas; up to 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide emissions that are causing most concerns about climate change" says researcher Tim Forcey.

Santos CEO's statement that the company is basing their business plans on a 4 degree warmer world. As i understand it, this extent of warming means the failure of many of the world's staple food crops - and as such is an extremely irresponsible position which also undermines Australia's participation in the Paris Climate Agreement.

The air quality assessment fails to include health-damaging fine particulate pollution with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (known as PM2.5). With diesel generators at each well pad and at the water treatment and gas compression plants, there will be significant PM2.5 emissions. The air quality assessment and greenhouse section also fail to model the likely substantial escape of fugitive methane emissions.


Heritage:

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 and has Significant Aboriginal cultural heritage values,rich in heritage sites, rock shelters, burials, grinding grooves and scared trees. This land is our history to have these destroyed is a travesty not only to the aboriginal community, but to all Australians and World heritage.
The lack of detail:
It does not provide maps indicating where these 850 wells and the lines and infrastructure that run between and around them will go. Santos is seeking a blank cheque consent for this gasfield on the promise that it will decide where the wells will go afterward using a "Field Development Protocol." No project has ever been assessed this way before in NSW and the constraints Santos propose are weak and subject to change later on. This is not an appropriate way to assess the largest development project ever undertaken under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act and the Government must insist that Santos release details to the public about the placement of its wells, pipelines and some other infrastructure.

Habit Biodiversity and Wildlife:

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 is home to many woodland species struggling to survive, including glossy-black cockatoos, barking owls, eastern pygmy possums, koalas, red-capped robins, regent honeyeaters and the unique Pilliga mouse. All up, 25 nationally listed and 48 state listed threatened species rely on the Pilliga for survival.
The Pilliga Forest is the largest remaining unfragmented block of temperate dry forest and woodland in eastern Australia. It functions as a key flora and fauna refuge in a landscape largely cleared for agriculture and is recognised as part of a National Biodiversity Hotspot and as a globally significant Important Bird Area.

It supports several endangered ecological communities and core populations of many threatened flora and fauna species. The latter include populations of a number of declining woodland bird species, virtually the entire population of the Pilliga Mouse Pseudomys pilligaensis, one of the largest NSW populations of the Koala Phascolarctos cinereus and one of only three significant populations of the South-eastern Long-eared Bat Nyctophilus corbeni.

The Pilliga Forest also provides important seasonal habitat for a suite of nomadic and migratory bird species as a key part of the eastern Australian bird migration system

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Justification of the Project:

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. The significant harm on the social, environmental and economic values of the Narrabri Shire and New South Wales that this project will inflict needs to be weighed against the economic justification for the project, but there is no such economic justification.

The gas produced at Narrabri might be as little as 4.9% of the volume contracted for sale out of Gladstone. It's not going to bring down prices. In fact, it will force prices up, because unconventional gas like CSG is so expensive to produce and yields are so low. Research undertaken by gas company AGL shows that gas from the Pilliga would be the most expensive gas of anywhere in the current east coast gas market. The number of jobs the project will support once the construction is over is just 145. Weighed against damage to the land, and the Great Artesian Basin, this makes no sense.

Salt:
The water removed from the ground by Santos will be treated, but this creates another problem: what to do with the salt? Peak salt production at Narrabri CSG will be 115 tonnes per day, or two and a half B-double truckloads per day. In the peak year, this would mean the creation of 41,900 tonnes of salt for disposal, which Santos says will take place in landfill.

Visual:
Light pollution that will ruin the dark night sky needed by the internationally renowned Siding Spring Observatory.

Human Rights:

Put Simply,
The recognition and respect of peoples dignity
A set of moral and legal guidelines that promote and protect a recognition of our values, our identity and ability to ensure an adequate standard of living
The basic standards by which we can identify and measure inequality and fairness
Those rights associated with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Santos are not protecting and have no recognition for these rights, these rights are at risk and or will be lost. The values and heritage of the aboriginal people are being destroyed, the water is contaminated, the air is polluted, Santos will be in violation of the Human rights Act and have a legal and moral obligation to each Australian.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I object to Santos' plans to drill through the Great Artesian Basin and fracture the Pilliga forest for coal seam gas.

The land in Narrabri should not be used as a source of coal seam gas. Local farmers are dependant on a clean environment for the healthy produce that they grow for all of us here and for the export market. Only a healthy environment can produce healthy goods for people to consume for their health benefits. CSG = an unhealthy environment. An unhealthy environment = unhealthy people.

I also support Gamilaraay people as the Traditional Owners and custodians to be able to care for country as they have done so for centuries with traditional burial sites and sacred places for cultural customs.

We used to visit the Pilliga when our children were young. That is over 40 years ago. Every time we go it seems to have become more degraded and trashed. We do not want any CSG plants in NSW. We are proud of our state and wish to retain its natural beauty so that visitors may enjoy it also.
I am tired of governments working to help big business and completely ignoring the ordinary people. It is as if we don't exist except to work like ants to make more money for those in power.
Surely you are aware that our planet is heading towards disaster with the burning of fossil fuels. This will affect your families as well as ours. Is money the only god in today's Australia?
You are destroying the habitat of many native creatures and flora. You and I are just a part of the environment not the other
way about. We are a part of a marvellous bio-diversity and we do not know where the cut off point is when life as we know it will become impossible.
Instead of ruining the plane with fossil fuels, go solar. Get Santo to build a solar farm such as they have in Europe.
Stop all CSG fracking. It is so very backward and will also damage our water supplies.

"NO" to Coal Seam Gas!!!

Save the Pilliga

Wake up and LOOK we can not continue to destroy
our beautiful country
stop all this now

I am opposed to all CSG projects in this country and thus also in the Pilliga region.
As a doctor I believe that a healthy planet amounts to healthy people and I cannot see any evidence to show that CSG extraction is to the benefit of this nation or will preserve the environment for the future,
This government needs to create jobs in fields which promote the health of the environment for future generations and not seek a quick buck regardless of the immeasurable damage this will create. This is a time of vital action and resources need to be found urgently for all the work which needs to be done to avoid environmental disaster. The economic value of the habitat in which we live is not being understood by those in political power.

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. 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.

References
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/

I object to the approval of CSG drilling in the pilliga or any other area. The process is fundamentally flawed by the fact that there can be no guarantee that the drilling process will be completely 100% effective and safe thereby guaranteeing that there will never be contamination of the land and /or water

Dear Sir/Madam,
I strongly oppose the Santos Narrabri Gas Project. The Pilliga region homes the largest Eucalypt forest in inland NSW and provides habitat to 25 nationally threatened species and 48 state threatened species. It also provides a livelihood for thousands of farmers and communities who rely on the landscape for their existence. The gas project poses unacceptable risks to the people and the plants and animals of the Pilliga. Large areas of threatened species habitats will be destroyed or fragmented, to create the gas pads, potentially pushing some species to local extinction. The groundwater, which is already in peril following years of below average rainfall & drought, will be further depleted, putting local communites, farms and the forest itself at risk of collapse. The water removed from the ground will be contaminated and will compromise the health of our creeks and river systems even after it is 'treated'. Drilling for gas in this precious region is wrong and poses a serious risk to the environment, the people and future generations. This project must not go ahead - not here and not anywhere. Once again, I am strongly opposed to the Narrabri Gas Project. Thankyou for the opportunity to comment.

Australia has very little of a vital precious resource, namely water. The very idea that any person or organisation or government department wouldn't consider any project that would remotely affect the long term viability of a large and crucial water source is short-sighted and dangerous. Additionally the environmental impact and societal impact of these types of projects are not justifiable for their cost-benefit.

Please do not allow this to go through and jeopardise the land, water and livelihood of the Australians you are leave to represent and protect.

Please stop allowing land grabs. It's not acceptable.

I object to the Narrabri Gas Project because:
It 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 wish to register my objection to the Narrabri Gas Project. My objection is based on the following issues:
- The project would clear 988 ha of native vegetation and remove more than 10,000 hollow bearing trees in an area known for its biological value. This area is also under threat form other projects such as the Inland Rail and several coal mines. This impact should be enough in its own right to prevent this project being approved.
- The adverse impacts of coal seam gas development on groundwater is well documented. Where these impacts are less well known the precautionary principle suggests that such a potentially dangerous activity should not proceed unless it can categorically prove that impacts would not occur. Such a burden of proof can not be claimed to have been met by this project, despite the claims of the EIS. We must not gamble the health of our environment for the sake of extracting fossil fuel in such a reckless manner.
- The extraction and discharge of huge amounts of salt laden wastewater presents a massive environmental impact which simply cannot be adequately mitigated. This adverse impact of this upon the chemistry of receiving waterways is not acceptable.
- The project would lead to the deliberate venting of methane to the atmosphere, a gas 22 times as potent as carbon dioxide in its greenhouse effect. As has been seen in other gas projects both in NSW and abroad recently, these fugitive emissions are a ticking timebomb for our targets to abate greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately climate change.
- The approval of the extraction of more fossil fuels of any kind given the existential threat of climate change and it's potentially disastrous effects upon NSW, Australia and the world is reckless and negligent. All new approvals for such development must be denied and all remaining fossil fuels must be kept in the ground - the only safe location for them. Instead NSW should be encouraging and directly investing in large and small scale renewable energy projects. The technology, the market, the investment and the public desire is there - the element highly conspicuous by its absence is political will.
- Given the parlous state of the gas market and prices in Australia where is the guarantee that the gas potentially generated by this proposal would not go straight to export?
- This proposal has the potential to result in light pollution which would adversely affect the nearby Siding Springs observatory.

This project uses 20th century technology to extract a 19th century commodity when all the while 21st century renewable energy technology is effectively ignored by the NSW and Australian governments. This project should be resoundingly rejected on behalf of every resident of NSW, both present and future, as well as the sake of the world's climate.

..

I object to coal seam gas extraction in the precious Pilliga scrub. It is an unique ecosystem that should be preserved and protected for its wildlife. The local Indigenous communities oppose this too as an impingement on their lands and the delicate fireprone environment is not suitable for an industry that creates gas flares. These also would reduce the amenity of the Siding Springs Obsevatory which requires a dark night sky to operate effectively.
I also believe fracking poses a grave threat to groundwater resources.

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.

Sacred Lands before Greedy Hands

The groundwater in the Great Artesian Basin is far too valuable a resource to tamper with and climate change is already on a trajectory worse than predicted. We have to invest in renewable energies and curb our emissions. Apart from this, the Piliga needs to be preserved to protect biodiversity. All three issues are critical for our survival and short-term monetary interest should not take priority. If we want to live in this country for the next 40,000 years we had better start thinking long-term.