Narrabri Gas

Keep CSG out of the Pilliga and out of our state. Methane leaks, devestation to wildlife and watersheds in this unique ecological area will follow. Just keep sustainable forestry.

Lodge your objection to Santos' Narrabri Gas Project in the Pilliga.
Go to the Narrabri Gas Project page on the NSW Department of Planning website.
Choose `I object to it' in the dropdown menu and fill in your personal details.
Add your comment against the project. We have suggested some key points to be included in your submission below. Please consider using these points as a basis and expressing opposition in your own words--your own voice is more powerful.
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Suggested points for your submission

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/

- See more at: https://www.wilderness.org.au/final-push-pilliga#sthash.XvpPE4uM.dpuf

This is not the best way forward for us, the Australian people. We no longer need these inferior energy extraction technologies that pollute the Flora and Fauna within our environment. And perhaps most importantly, Us!
There are numerous energy Technologies that our Government are exposed to everyday that do not pollute our people and land. Which would have a far superior effect of benefit on our economy.

As an annual national Park holder, I object to the Narrabri Gas Project as it will damage the pristine forests of the Pillaga and threaten species such as Koalas, Quolls, Wallabies, Pygmy possums and other native wildlife.Santos does not have a good safety record with over 20 spills and leaks having been reported.
We need to protect and improve our National Parks not destroy them with toxic projects run by questionable companies. Please put our forests first and toxic money second.

How can a Government be so shortsighted so uncaring, to allow fracking when everybody knows it means death to all, when water, rivers, lakes are contaminated. We have solar panels on the roof. Go for solar farming not fracking.
There is sun for everybody, but water is scarce, and this Government wants to allow global Corporations to frack and destroy all these underground water sources. You as Government have no right to destroy the land and its environs by supporting and allowing fracking.

Australia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, the only one of the top 12 that is a 'developed' country. In its most recent Fifth National Report to the Biodiversity Convention, the Australian Government included quotes from the Australian State of the Environment Report, 2011, including:

"The report states that the most significant past and present pressures are clearing and fragmentation of native ecosystems, invasive species and pathogens, inappropriate fire regimes, grazing pressure and changed hydrology. The report highlights that the available evidence indicates that these pressures have been growing worse over the past decade. The three major interacting drivers affecting all these pressures have been (and will be) climate, human population growth and the demands placed on the environment to support human lifestyles. All three of these drivers will need to be addressed to reduce pressures on biodiversity to an appropriate level (State of the Environment Committee, 2011)."

Each of these pressures, particularly when they take place in a heretofore natural area, are destroying the unique biodiversity of this continent, biodiversity that we have promised the rest of the world that we would protect.

The Narrabri Gas Project, which involves the progressive development of a coal seam gas field comprising up to 850 gas wells on up to 425 well pads over 20 years, and the construction and operation of gas processing and water treatment facilities, including:
- a central gas processing facility for the compression, dehydration and treatment of gas;
- a water management facility for the storage and treatment of produced water;
- an in-field gas compression and water management facility; and
- water and gas gathering pipelines and ancillary infrastructure

will have a devastating impact on the biodiversity of the Pilliga State Forest and for that reason alone, it ought to be rejected. Add in the human health concerns and the increased greenhouse emissions, and this project must certainly be rejected.

Please respect our environment and NO drilling in the Pilliga Region.

I strongly object. We need to preserve ALL of Australia for our future & the future generations.

Australia is a beautiful land and we, the people, are its caretakers and protectors. We must put caring for the environment before company greed and reject the proposed Narrabri Gas Project.

Australia already produces 3x more energy than it consumes, that and the known issues with coal stream gas on the environmen. One has to question why Australia would even consider risking the degregation of such a beautiful landscape.

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.
- See more at: https://www.wilderness.org.au/final-push-pilliga#sthash.oLt4f42c.dpuf

The Narrabri Gas Project risks precious water sources, including the Great Australian Basin, which is Australia's largest groundwater aquifer. In addition, it will affect the farming population of the area (who are also opposed to this project) and without our farmers, our food source is under threat. The Narrabri Gas Project has a long history of spills and leaks of toxic CSG water suggesting it will more than likely contaminate local water supplies affecting the health and wellbeing of the local community. Of added concern is the wildlife that will no doubt have their habitats threatened by this project. The Pilliga is one of 15 nationally listed `biodiversity hotspots' and is vital to the survival of threatened species, which includes endangered species. Furthermore coal seam gas fuels dangerous climate change and can cause several health conditions, which the local community would be most susceptible to.

Seriously, it's absurd we're still doing this and that a submission is required to ATTEMPT to stop it!
The facts are known, our technology is superseding the need, so make the change!
EVERYONE counts, ANYONE can stop this, so make it happen!

Our survival is paramount and more important than your greed and hast to destroy this precious Land! We are merely custodians and must protect this Land and its flora and fauna at all costs!..

Please please preserve this beautiful part of Australia! Future generations will appreciate that this area is left clean. Short term financial gains do not look to the future. We have no right to interfere with this precious ground

A big NO to interfer with our future '

I believe the risk of damage to the arterial basin far outweighs any benefits and the basin should be protected.

As a young Australian, this issue is very important to me. In the midst of increasingly alarming symptoms of unabated climate change and the threats that it poses to food security, and after several decades of governmental inaction on the issue, the very last thing our society and my generation needs is further fossil fuel extraction, and especially not CSG mining in the Great Artesian Basin and threatening our food security even further. There are too many unknowns and risks, which have led some states and some entire countries to impose moratoriums on this sort of mining activity (CSG).

It would be incredibly short-sighted and potentially very damaging for the government to allow such a development to occur - and so I make this submission to ask you not to let this development go forward.

The further deterioration and destruction of native land is something I strongly object.

Dear Sri/Madam,

I wish to strongly voice my disapproval of the proposed CSG project - Santos' Narrabri Gas Project. The potential damage to the Great Artesian Basin and the Murray-Darling Basin poses an overwhelming risk to the long-term prosperity of the Australian people.
Santos' record in the area in regard to their other CSG projects is disproportionateley negative with measureable damage to a freshwater aquifer and 20 reported spills and leaks of toxic CSG water.
I ask you to support the Australian community campaigning against this project rather the interests of Santos.

Kind regards,

Monty Ryan

To those at Narrabri Gas Planning and to ALL of our politicians ! , Please DO NOT go ahead with coal seam gas exploration in the Pillaga. It is a very real threat to health of humans, flora and fauna, a threat to the Great Artisian Basin . It has been proven to be EXTREMELY detrimental in many ways : health hazards, noise pollution, water pollution, air pollution, triggering of small earthquakes , harmful to eco systems and the environment. For the sake of future generations and for the love of our great country and people...DO NOT DO THIS !!! Elizabeth Coby.