Narrabri Gas

I object to this

I object to this proposed gas mine in the Pilliga region of NSW for the following reasons.
The extraction and subsequent pollution of water from the underground aquifers will negatively impact farms throughout western NSW. This is unacceptable.
The destruction large areas of the Pilliga Forest will cause distress to many native species including threatened species. Flowing on from this, the tourism industry will be negatively impacted. This is unacceptable.
The land to be mined is sacred to the local aboriginal people, and turning it into an industrial area will further marginalise a people already on the fringes of our society. This is unacceptable.
The science is proven - gas mining creates fugitive methane emissions accelerating climate change. This is totally unacceptable.
Mining operations have huge light batteries all night impairing research at the Siding Springs Observatory. This is unacceptable.

I vehemently oppose the Narrabri gas project. The long term risks to the economic security of the farming communities relying upon the Great Artisan Basin and the possible permanent degradation of Australia's capacity to produce agricultural products are too great a risk to take simply for a short term fix to an energy shortage created by short sighted past politicians and "business leaders". We have a plethora of environmental legislation and decisions that espouse the "precautionary principle". Surely the possibility of catastrophic economic, social and environmental consequences demands the "precautionary principle" be applied to this project and its application refused

The Narrabri Gas project is a good opportunity for our community to develop not only economically but to develop some of it's people toward greater career prospects.

I worked for Santos in the Narrabri project for four years (2011-2015) and have experienced their attitude toward their own people, the Community, the Environment and the requirements of being a responsible operator.

I support Narrabri Gas Project.

I strongly oppose the Narrabi Gas Project.

The Narrabi Gas Project poses a risk to our precious water sources, The project damages Traditional Gamilaraay land, its rejected by local farmers and local community already, there is already a history of toxic spills and damage , The Pilliga is a wildlife haven, there could be an increased fire risk from the activity, human health may be compromised .... the list goes on, isn't it a no brainer??????????????????
I'll spell it out more clearly just in case!!!

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.

PLEASE DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yours Faithfully

Kara Justine Woodward

Santos' Narrabri CSG project "could be enough to stop bores flowing throughout the Great Artesian basin, which is the sole water source for towns and farms across 22 per cent of Australia.

The basin covers almost a quarter of the country and is the only supply of fresh water for much of central Australia. No Great Artesian Basin means no farming. It means no cattle-grazing. It means no irrigation, no drinking water for rural communities. Without overstating it, losing the basin would be catastrophic.

Friends of the Earth Sydney wish to object in the strongest terms possible to the Narrabri Gas Project. It is ludicrous this is even being seriously considered.

This project places at grave risk precious water sources.
The recharge 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.

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. Their voices are not to be ignored.

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.

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. Our members have seen first hand the spill at Bibblewindi and the "clean up" of this - the funnelling of runoff water from the main spill site to a pipeline which... ends, a further 100 meters or so into the forest, to create a screen of trees between the first and the second dead zones.

The Pilliga is a haven for threatened wildlife.
It 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. The lights, noise and traffic would disrupt and endanger all of these species, as well as the local human community.

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.

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.
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.

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. The irony of producing extra salt in a country already fighting salinity seems remarkable.

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. Allowing this industry in these conditions, where people are living down long dirt tracks, with few exit points or water sources and so much dry fuel around would be utterly irresponsible.

¹SoilFutures Consulting 2014, Great Artesian Basin Recharge Systems and Extent of Petroleum and Gas Leases. http://www.gabpg.org.au/wp-content/.../2014/11/GAB-Report1.pdf
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

Dear government Ministers and Members,

All over the world people are taking back their power and standing for the land and for nature against profit. At the moment governments, in their mistaken beliefs that big business bring jobs are pushing for mines and walking all over indigenous rights and landholders rights.

Yes, we need jobs for prosperity, but not at the expense of the web of life itself and most certainly NOT at the expense of the souls of our indigenous people who are at last awakening from the horrors of invasion and demanding that we, the interlopers RESPECT their right to decide for themselves what is allowed to happen on their land.

Australia has more gas than we need for ourselves. Santos HAS NO RIGHTS over any Australian land. White people do not have the right to give it to them, only the original owners can do that and in the case of the Piliga region near Narabri in NSW you are also giving away the locals rights to good health.
Methane leakage from these CSG installations can't bne stopped once the EARTH has been disturbed.

So, Santos takes the gas and most likely pays no tax, the people of the Piliga get sick, our government picks up the bill and also the bill for the clean-up (if a clean-up is possible). The environment is further disrupted and as usual the government will have to pick up part of the bill after any disasters that occur because of government's disregard for nature, the indigenous people become more lost and depressed and the government has to pick up the bill to cope with their deteriorating health and lifestyle issues. Are our governments sane?

Please think ahead for future generations.


Catherine Roadknight.

I object from the bottom of my soul - this fracking is greedy careless and reckless.

To the Department of Planning,

I strongly oppose the Pilliga coal seam gas projects on the grounds that it is ethically, morally and environmentally irresponsible. I grew up in Armidale, NSW, and have a very strong connection to the country in the Northern Tablelands. I would be heartbroken if steps were taken by the government to destroy this countryside and the communities which inhabit it.
Here are some more reasons why I oppose this project. We are on the brink of catastrophic climate change. It would be incredibly stupid to continue the same polluting and dangerous practises which have led to this. Coal seam gas is not a transition fuel. We need to be drastically transitioning to renewables, not starting up old destructive practises. Gas is far more catastrophic than coal. Not only does it have devastating impact on a global scale but also on a local scale. Farms will be contaminated. Coal seam gas in the Pilliga has the potential to contaminate the great artesian basin, which is also a water source for those living in this area. There have already be many uranium spills as part of the exploration phase in the Pilliga. As a government body it should be your responsibility to protect and preserve our incredible natural environment, not wantonly and irresponsibly trash it. I shouldn't have to argue this point. It should just be common knowledge. It deeply saddens me that we are having this debate at all. Please use your influence to pull out of this project and do what is right for the people and the fragile natural environment which is already under threat.

Yours Sincerely,

Jhana Allan

Hi There,

I object to this development taking place.

The impacts on the environment cannot be mitigated. Especially, ground water impacts which will never fully be know.

After construction, this project will provide very few jobs to the area. Hence their are negligible benefits to offset the impact.

Please do not approve this project.

Regards
Jeremy

I strongly object to the proposal to develop 850 gas wells in the Pilliga because:
1. This area is a major recharge of the Great Artesian Basin and there is too great a risk of contamination of this globally significant water resource. Coal seam gas activities have already caused major contamination of the Pilliga and will certainly cause future contamination if allowed to proceed.
2. The proposal will fragment the largest and most significant temperate woodland in eastern Australia. This will cause local extinctions and declines in biodiversity. This is completely unacceptable.

I object to mining in the Pilliga Forrest by Santos and all other miners, drillers, resource acquirers. This is irresponsible and unsustainable. It may appease the here and now of our greedy need for resources. It does not address fixing the problem which is causing our unsustainable behaviour. It does not leave the human race, flora and fauna, a future.

The damage to the land, the water aquifers, communities, air, is lasting. In isolation, gas drilling and retaining pressure in the gas lines so that it can travel large distances to ports and processing plants ensures that once the holes start, many more holes not just in that area, other land will be drilled. For those on the land, this is suicide. For city folk who are disconnected, it is time they realized that their foodstuffs - dairy, grain, meat, vegetables, fruit, wines; their water, fertilizers etc are taken from "rural" areas. Finances are redirected to the city, to state and corporate coffers. Coffers are not about humanity and our future existence and sustainability.

The world cannot be bought. God cannot be bought. That is a "sin" as per oaths.

The oaths of leaders - of which Australian leaders are included are based on the King James V Bible which speaks of God. God. Our legal system, enforcers such as politicians, judges and therefore business systems are based on it..

I suggest that the leaders and those who enforce the system start doing their job. That bible makes it quite clear that if not followed, everyone dies as a result.


Responsibility and sustainability is not a difficult concept for most people to understand! We only have one planet which we call home. It is time we bothered to look after it!

To whom it may concern,

I object to Santos Pilliga CSG project as a crime against future generations of Australians due to unavoidable damage to an important recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin.

The CSG industry is a dirty, polluting industry that is self-regulated, out of control and redundant. Santos regularly pollutes groundwater and important aquifers with impunity, and I have absolute faith that they will and are doing this as I type.

Santos has a proven history of mismanaged environmental damage and CSG is arguably the dirtiest of outdated fossil fuels, with 100% of wells failing by end of life and leaking methane into the atmosphere in vast, uncounted quantities.

Current governments seem unable to contain or control this dangerous industry, as most political parties have resource industry lobbyists as employees, there should be a moratorium until the government is able to separate itself from the industry and stand as an objective body.

The fact that Santos and others have deliberately lied and withheld information to both regulators and the public should be enough, for the honest types....

Sincerely

K. Theo

I object to the CSG project as it will ruin our land and cause untold damage to our water, will traumatise traditional land owners and ruin any prospect of continuation of farming on this land.

This project poses an unacceptable risk to water resources at a local, regional and national scale. No amount of regulation or legislation can reverse damage or contamination of aquifers.The project should be rejected on the grounds of it's threat to sustainable agriculture.

I object to the proposed Narrabri Gas Project.

Despite industry assurances to the contrary, it is inevitable that spills and leaks will occur (just as they have already) and these will substantially damage not only surface environments but underground water resources. Those resources will also be placed under severe pressure by the extraction process itself. Management of produced salt is also of great concern, especially in the context of greater climatic variability (which, in turn, calls into question existing models and assumptions regarding the engineering solutions to contain them).

The Pilliga is of very considerable value as a biological community. Common sense speaks to significant disruption and destruction to be wrought by the placement of (literally) hundreds of gas wells and associated infrastructure. The fact that no specific plan for well placement is available beggars belief.

As a enthusiast for all things astronomical, I am also appalled at the prospect of flaring and the attendant risk to the "dark skies" on which Siding Springs Observatory relies - quite apart from the documented environmental and health risks associated with the practice.

Finally, I believe the ample public evidence now available that there is no "gas supply crisis" and that the issue here is gas company profits rather than any real concern about domestic energy security. On that stand, the project is not needed and it is not for us, the people of NSW, to somehow feel sorry for, and be involved in the (effective) bailout of, Santos for its bad commercial decision making.

Its important to protect Land and Water for the future generation and for an intact enviroment. We need clean water to survive and Nature to live.

I oppose this project. I oppose this project in support of the landholders whose privately owned holdings will be affected. I oppose this project for the massive environmental damage it will incur. I oppose this project for the absolute disregard for people's rights that this project and others like it inflict on the people of Australia

I wish to lodge my objection to this coal seam gas project in Narrabri based on the untested long term environmental & health effects it may have. There is evidence overseas of CSG exploration causing contamination of groundwater & land that is vital for our ongoing agricultural and wellbeing. Also, the development of these sites means destroying native forests which impact wildlife, evidence which suggests will never grow back once the life of this CSG plant has ended. We need more future vision into how currently gas mining is being run in this country, as it has been revealed lately that the industry is not serving the everyday Australian ... this gas comes from Australian land yet it is benefiting the pockets of a few big businesses with no regard for the rest of Australia. I fear this is yet another project that does not care at all for people, the land, our drinking water or animals - just profit as per usual.