Narrabri Gas

Fossil fuels are becoming something of the past. Santos should take its considerable wealth and find new technology to invest in. They could be the leading force in finding employment opportunities for rural and regional areas as well as making more money for their shareholders yet they continue to push for destructive mining practices.

We need clean water and animals need biodiverse land. This land has biologically important trees and endangered species. This should be protected for generations to come rather than Santos and their political allies making tonnes of money.

I do not support Santos having anymore mining licenses nor approvals to mine for csg or any other fossil fuel.

Our population is desperate for jobs and renewable energy not more of the same old political paradigm where the environment loses for short term political gain.

climate change is the biggest threat to my generation and its not a long bow to draw to say that coal seam gas fuels climate change. please register my objection to this expansions of the CSG industry.

Attn: Executive Director, Resource Assessments Department of Planning and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney, NSW, 2001
22nd of May, 2017
To whom it may concern,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed Narrabri Gas Project.

I object to the Gas project for the following reasons:
The project is not supported by the traditional custodians of the land.

The proposed project involves drilling 850 wells through the recharge area of the Great Artesian Basin, extracting water and gas from below. A large population of Australians relies on this water source for drinking and for their livelihood.
The project does not appear to bestow significant enough economic and social stimulus to the local region to warrant the environmental and economic risks associated with the project.

Despite the measures in place, any operations plan for drilling will contain errors and need to have contingencies to deal with variances when they appear, and these errors could have a profound impact on the Great Artesian Basin.
This project has already caused spills and leaks, of which many SANTOS tried to keep hidden from the community. This does not represent honest and best practice management. There is also no waste disposal plans being offered for the thousands of tonnes of salt waste generated during the project.

Following the CSG project, wells are plugged with concrete and steel and must last forever. Over time, many such plugs will fail.

More jobs could be created in the local area through the renewable energy industry, without imposing these risks.
SANTOS does not have a reputation as an environmentally reliable company with issues on Port Curtis Island with flares and contamination resulting in amendments to the EIS needing to be made. This seems consistent with the current EIS where the detail provided of where the gas wells and pipes will go is not mentioned.

The likely substantial escape of methane emissions (the most potent greenhouse gas) are also not explored in the EIS. The NSW Government has committed to moving towards strong climate resilience and protecting the Australian public and wanting to be a leader in climate change. The Victorian Government has banned the production of CSG in the state and we suggest that NSW does the same. Granting industry that is polluting and not restricting the generation of greenhouse gases is not sustainable.

The EIS only provides very narrow economic and social approximate impacts, not accurately stating the exact implications of the project.

Thank you
Yours sincerely,
Rhys C.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a submission on this most important matter.

It is hard to believe that at a time when Australia has an abundance of gas that approval would be given for unconventional gas fields in the Pilliga Forest. Instead of approving more gas wells for the purpose of meeting export targets, we need to be protecting and preserving our special places. The Pilliga Forest is the largest temperate woodland in NSW and home to unique wildlife that need to be protected. I find it unfathomable that consideration would be given to destroying this national resource.

Santos has a record of environmental breaches when it comes to unconventional gas mining so to allow this application to proceed would severely impact on the Government's duty of care responsibilities. It is clear that Santos cannot operate safely and within environmental guidelines so it would be irresponsible of the Government to approve their application.

Furthermore, the literature from around the world clearly shows the many risks of unconventional gas mining to water, air, health, geology, and there are social and economic detriments. In addition, in this particular situation there are important indigenous rights to consider and approving this application would cause trauma to the local Aboriginal community; we must respect the rights of the Gamilaraay people.

Water is a most precious resource particularly in a country of drought and therefore we need to protect our aquifers. Given Santos' history of environmental breaches they are not in a position to give any assurances of operating within environmental guidelines! Water is critical for our agricultural industries which provide greater employment and financial returns to the country as well as their inherent value to local and international consumers - don't put this at risk.

It has been proven that fugitive emissions from methane is a significant environmental polluter and to allow such a large project would exacerbate climate change concerns. Evidence from the United States shows that fugitive emissions is a significant concern from unconventional gas mining and as time goes by, there will inevitably be leaks and failures in the cement casings adding to the fugitive emissions.

It is time for NSW to follow the lead in Victoria and in this regard, ban new applications for unconventional gas mining. There are other more environmental friendly energy production methods.

Please protect the Pilliga Forest as a place for future generations to enjoy.

The Pilliga scrub is an integral protection for water catchment and habitat. All small farms across eastern Australia west of the great dividing range rely on the water aquifers which run under the Liverpool plains
Coal has been extracted for generations in the valley and it's now time to stop. Give the deep alluvial black soils back to clean agricultural pursuits. We don't need coal seam gas. Enough.

To whom it may concern,
I wish to lodge an Objection to the Narrabri Gas Project,
Although I do not live near Narrabri, I feel that I should be entitled to have a say when it comes to opening the area up to Coal Seam Gas Mining and Fracking, as this will put our Air, Land and Water at risk, all of which I and many Australians rely on for sustenance

It is well known that fugitive emissions from Coal Seam Gas wells are exacerbating the Climates Change. These wells will all leak! it's just a matter of when.... Multitudes of abandoned wells worldwide are spewing methane into our atmosphere adding to climate change, polluting our air quality and causing illness, why should we let Santos add to it their Environmental Impact Statement does not mention the monitoring abandoned wells?

As a carbon intensive industry, supporting this project does not support the mitigation of climate change.
I am also very concerned about more leachate ponds spilling over with the damaging rains that we have been occur during the last few years!

Recently AGL pulled out of CSG saying that it was economically unviable, so what makes this project any different or are taxpayers going to have to foot the bill?

This project will Extract over 35 billion litres of saline groundwater and produce almost 500,000 tonnes of salt waste with no plan in place for the management of this salt.

The depressurisation of the Great Arterial Basin is also of great concern with the copious amounts of water the project will drain from the GAB possibly leaving our farmers high and dry. Then there is also the worry of Cross contamination of deep and shallow aquifers which is highly probable and will permanently alter the ecology of aquifers impacting on stygofauna which are responsible for purifying water by eating bacteria. Santos admit to the inter aquifer connectivity from the alluvium down, so how do Santos intend to ensure that cross contamination of water ecosystems does not occur?
It should be noted that 3 new species of stygofauna will be affected by Santos drilling in the area. More tests should take place before drilling starts, Due to the high sensitivity of the species!

The Gas project will also 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.

This project will also fragment the largest temperate woodland in New South Wales and in doing so will cause great losses to vulnerable wildlife as their migration from one place to another risks them becoming road kill with all of the extra vehicular movements and that's just the wildlife that escape the bulldozers!

Santos' social impact assessment is three years old and is totally inadequate!

There is no data in the EIS showing the possible adverse health impacts from this project?
It just says none expected! This is not nearly good enough!

The Project will also cause further trauma to the regional Aboriginal community because the area to be impacted is crucially important to the spiritual, cultural and social life of the Gamilaraay people.

Add to this Santos's track record with toxic spills, lack of remediation to damaged sites and Santos CEO's statement stating "that the company is basing their business plans on a 4 degree warmer world" this shows a complete lack of disregard for our climate, people's health and the health of our Natural Environment, just an interest in shareholder profits!

So I ask that you put the health of our Climate, People and our Natural Environment ahead of profits and reject this proposal and instead roll out renewable energy that is a far safer option for power

Yours Sincerely
Patricia Kahler

I object to all projects that risk contamination of our water sources here in Australia. Water is life. Water is what allows us to have such an incredible food bowl in NSW and as the driest inhabited continent on Earth, Australia has even more at stake in protecting our precious water.

It is well known that CSG/Fracking can unintentionally contaminate aquifers and in this case The Great Artesian Basin is at risk.

I wholeheartedly reject Santos' plans in all forms if it involves any risks to our water sources.

While I live hundreds of kilometres from the Pilliga forest I feel I am just as entitled as local residents to vehemently object to this dreadful proposal. I was taught about the incredible Great Artesian Basin in primary school nearly 60 years ago and feel it belongs equally to every Australian and no one has any right to do anything that will damage and destroy it for future generations.
It has deep cultural meaning to the local Gamilaraay people.
The farmers depend on the springs and bores for their livelihoods and in the long-run our food.
The local residents don't want it and have demonstrated their distrust of the whole project.
The endangered wildlife will be driven to extinction if their local habitat is destroyed. Who wants that on their conscience?
What will the scientists of the world think when the flares from the wells degrade our renowned Siding Springs Observatory.
The fact that spills have already occurred means that it is beyond doubt that 850 toxic wells will absolutely destroy and contaminate this iconic area forever. No one has the right to do that. No one has the right to approve that it happen in the first place. Do not ignore the dire warnings of the experts from every science, environment and cultural profession.
No money will compensate or rebuild what has been destroyed and past experience will tell you that the culprits will just walk away.

There is sufficient evidence* that coal seam gas is dangerous to the health of people living near gas fields to justify stopping the existing fields let alone approving new ones. If the well-being of local residents is not enough then there are plenty of other reasons not to approve this project. For my entire life (over 50 years now) I have been taught that water is a precious resource in Australia. This project will divert water from other areas and pollute it permanently, while also creating by-products that will kill the environment into which it is dumped. The project rewards Santos for exporting alternate gas seam supplies, causing local shortages, and ultimately contributes to devastating climate change results. It is yet another irresponsible and short sighted plan which wilfully ignores the global impact and avoids taking renewables seriously as an alternate energy source.

*"By several measures, evidence for fracking-related health problems is emerging across the United States. In Pennsylvania, as the number of gas wells increase in a community, so do rates of hospitalization. Drilling and fracking operations are correlated with elevated motor
vehicle fatalities (Texas), asthma (Pennsylvania), self-reported skin and respiratory problems
(southwestern Pennsylvania), ambulance runs and emergency room visits (North Dakota),
infant deaths (Utah), birth defects (Colorado), high risk pregnancies (Pennsylvania), premature birth (Pennsylvania), and low birthweight (multiple states). Benzene levels in
ambient air surrounding drilling and fracking operations are sufficient to elevate risks for future cancers in both workers and nearby residents, according to studies. Animal studies
show that two dozen chemicals commonly used in fracking operations are endocrine disruptors that can variously disrupt organ systems, lower sperm counts, and cause
reproductive harm at levels to which people can be
realistically exposed."
Concerned Health Professionals of New York & Physicians for Social Responsibility. (2016, November 17). Compendium of scientific, medical, and media findings
demonstrating risks and harms of fracking (unconventional gas and oil extraction) (4th ed.).
http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/

I have copied some points which I agree with but I would also like to add that I am at a loss as to why gas that makes a few companies richer has priority over the lives of farmers and therefore over our food production, and over our environment when every tree and blade of grass and natural water pond is essential for our existence.Opening up more gas fields is not the answer to Australia having a steady supply of gas at a cheap price. We have a good supply of gas but it is owned and sold and monopolized by a couple of greedy companies who were given such an excellent deal for them by an inept government , that was so short sighted. WE sell ourselves short all the time. Our government seems to think any deal is a good one.We as a country are always the last to develop something as we are finding out the rest of the world has issues , but we seem to have to keep going with it. Please save our country from even more degradation for just a few dollars when we could be making a fortune on renewables and our wonderful tourist industry as well as the from the efforts of our farmers. This has to stop before all of us have gas wells in our back yards.

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 strongly object to the proposal to build 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 do not support this project. It will have a long-term, damaging impact on the environment and waterways. The risk is not worth the return. My business values clean energy initiatives and environmentally sustainable projects. If this project goes ahead it will negatively impact the whole state, eventually the jobs will dry up with the resources and NSW will be left with contaminated water abandoned mines. I do not support this project, it is not beneficial for the community in the long term.

I wish to protest and prevent the narrabri

ONGOING CONTAMINATING FUGITIVE EMISSIONS Refer ABC News 3 Mar 2017, by Stephen Long whereTim Forcey chemical engineer 35y experience in oil and gas using FLIR vcr technology that proves 'safe' gas vent in Chinchilla Qld is in reality an invisible smokestack methane venting machine and methane is 80 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. CSG technology in US has been unable to prevent cross contamination of clean closer to surface water from deeper contaminated water and even exploration phase in Pillaga has resulted in 2011 ammonia contamination in produced water spill and 2014 small aquifer contaminated by toxic metals inc arsenic, lead, uranium. Farmers and residents require clean water for irrigation and drinking. Australian interior does not have alternative bountiful rich water resources of USA and cannot afford the long term technical monitoring of numerous wells and natural and man-made systems. Incalculably high cost to benefit ratio makes this an inadvisable and 'apres-nous le deluge' project.

I am very concerned for the welfare of the Great Artesian Basin.

Upon reading at length the objections to this development I am convinced that this area is far more important agriculturally than for mining gas

If Santos were to breach their licence agreement and contaminate the under ground water in the mining area, the land holders may not be contacted by the department regarding this breach.
My concern is that the land holders might be exposed to this contaminated water because it is the main source of drinking water to most, if not all of the land holders.
To negate the land holder being exposed to contaminated water, I propose that the department contact all land holders of such a breach within the first 48 hours of the department being notified by Santos.
This will give people the opportunity to stop contaminated water being pumped into their tanks, or them drinking it straight from the water table.

Santos is going to take my land, bankrupt me and ruin my life.

Why? because I complained about their conduct, first to Planning and then to the District Court of NSW.

I spent years asking ESG / Santos and Planning to do the right thing, to no avail.

Frustrated I went to Court, Santos played tricks and they lied, I lost, now they want special costs, so they will even make a profit out of destroying their neighbour.

To get what they wanted in 2008, being a 40MW statutory approved expansion (given by Planning DEC 2008), to an unused 12MW power station, that they obtained permission to build (by telling the Narrabri Council that they had the gas, which was itself a lie), they told Planning that the 12MW was an approved operation and that the noise it made was approved. even supplied a diagram with the words "approved Noise". Simply bare faced deception and lies that Planning acted on without checking.

I told Planning of the lies and conduct but was ignored.......

I told my local MP of the lies of Santos and he wrote to Planning on my behalf, Planning stonewalled him too.

Santos has never operated the power station over 12MW, the 2008 approval states that if they did not substantially begin the expansion to 40MW they would lose the approval, but in 2013 Santos says it has complied, Marcus Ray of Planning says Santos has complied, but it is still a dormant 12MW power station!!! NO GAS for the best part of 15 years???

I got no compensation for the 40MW approval, and have been in limbo for 12 years, but Planning does not care about my plight, and Santos certainly does not.

Santos is a callous bully motivated only by profit, we all know that, but to treat a neighbour in such a callous and corrupt manner is not Australian, and Planning's refusal to do anything against Santos' misconduct and lies, is corrupt.

If Planning gives this approval, I will not be the last landowner to lose their life savings to Santos.

Santos claims to want to be a good neighbour but they are as bad as any American Tobacco firm, ESG or Santos shredded evidence in the Court action, gave false documents and smeared my name by telling the Court that I demand $37 Million from them in 2007 (then ESG).

Peter Mitchley who is well known in Narrabri, and I suspect a friend of Planning's Marcus Ray and Mike Young, signed an Affidavit in support of an allegation by Richard Baldock, the Santos solicitor, that I demanded $37 Million from them in 2007, that is perjury, but they got away with it because the Court did not want to hear about such things.

Santos told the Court that they did not know of any legal requirement or law for them to be truthful to Planning.

In written submissions Santos claims that the are not covered by the trade practice law as representation made to Planning were not in Trade or Commerce.

So Santos is an organisation that tells the Court, in effect, that it is free to lie to Planning without fear of prosecution.

If this were an application for a pub licence or a casino they would fail due to a probity check.

If Planning refuses to police the conduct of Santos, and Santos openly declares it can lie to Planning with fear, then everything they say to the community is likely spin and lies, and sooner or later another farmer is going to lose his farm and future trying to get Courts or Planning to act or even just listen.

So it is my submission that the Minster should reject the application of Santos until such time as Santos is forced to be a moral organisation, and to reject the application until such time as his staff are free of bias and will prosecute the likes of Santos for lying.

I am the partner of Philip Hardcastle, who says;

Santos is going to take my land, bankrupt me and ruin my life.

Why? because I complained about their conduct, first to Planning and then to the District Court of NSW.

I spent years asking ESG / Santos and Planning to do the right thing, to no avail.

Frustrated I went to Court, Santos played tricks and they lied, I lost, now they want special costs, so they will even make a profit out of destroying their neighbour.

To get what they wanted in 2008, being a 40MW statutory approved expansion (given by Planning DEC 2008), to an unused 12MW power station, that they obtained permission to build (by telling the Narrabri Council that they had the gas, which was itself a lie), they told Planning that the 12MW was an approved operation and that the noise it made was approved. even supplied a diagram with the words "approved Noise". Simply bare faced deception and lies that Planning acted on without checking.

I told Planning of the lies and conduct but was ignored.......

I told my local MP of the lies of Santos and he wrote to Planning on my behalf, Planning stonewalled him too.

Santos has never operated the power station over 12MW, the 2008 approval states that if they did not substantially begin the expansion to 40MW they would lose the approval, but in 2013 Santos says it has complied, Marcus Ray of Planning says Santos has complied, but it is still a dormant 12MW power station!!! NO GAS for the best part of 15 years???

I got no compensation for the 40MW approval, and have been in limbo for 12 years, but Planning does not care about my plight, and Santos certainly does not.

Santos is a callous bully motivated only by profit, we all know that, but to treat a neighbour in such a callous and corrupt manner is not Australian, and Planning's refusal to do anything against Santos' misconduct and lies, is corrupt.

If Planning gives this approval, I will not be the last landowner to lose their life savings to Santos.

Santos claims to want to be a good neighbour but they are as bad as any American Tobacco firm, ESG or Santos shredded evidence in the Court action, gave false documents and smeared my name by telling the Court that I demand $37 Million from them in 2007 (then ESG).

Peter Mitchley who is well known in Narrabri, and I suspect a friend of Planning's Marcus Ray and Mike Young, signed an Affidavit in support of an allegation by Richard Baldock, the Santos solicitor, that I demanded $37 Million from them in 2007, that is perjury, but they got away with it because the Court did not want to hear about such things.

Santos told the Court that they did not know of any legal requirement or law for them to be truthful to Planning.

In written submissions Santos claims that the are not covered by the trade practice law as representation made to Planning were not in Trade or Commerce.

So Santos is an organisation that tells the Court, in effect, that it is free to lie to Planning without fear of prosecution.

If this were an application for a pub licence or a casino they would fail due to a probity check.

If Planning refuses to police the conduct of Santos, and Santos openly declares it can lie to Planning with fear, then everything they say to the community is likely spin and lies, and sooner or later another farmer is going to lose his farm and future trying to get Courts or Planning to act or even just listen.

So it is my submission that the Minster should reject the application of Santos until such time as Santos is forced to be a moral organisation, and to reject the application until such time as his staff are free of bias and will prosecute the likes of Santos for lying.

Leave farming land and underground water alone -do we have to FOLLOW America in everything. DO NOT LET OUR COUNTRY BE RUINED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.