Narrabri Gas

The Narrabri Gas Project should not be approved by the NSW or Federal Governments because of many important ecological factors, including:
1. The proposed sites sits atop the Great Artesian Basin which is a vital aquifer for both farms and future generations of Australians. It would take decades to renew the water it holds & CSG mining is very short term. One leak from just one of the drilling rigs would be too many for such a vital source of water on this the driest continent on earth.
2. Farming on the Liverpool plains delivers a long term sustainable resource for the growing - and increasingly important - Australian agricultural sector.
3. All the land clearing and habitat destruction that would be undertaken will drive the iconic Koalas and other native fauna to extinction.
4. The flaring from CSG mines would destroy the vital 'night sky' for ANU's nearby observatory.
5. The environmental needs of future generations must be protected, they cannot eat coal or drink gas & the needs of future generations must be factored in.

https://www.thevenusproject.com/

I wish to object to the Narrabri coal seam gas project on the grounds that not enough evidence is available to prove that the environment will not be damaged permanently and irreparably.
Please reconsider this decision.
Yours sincerely,
Sally Humphrey.

Executive Director
Resource Assessments
Department of Planning and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001
21 May 2017
Dear Sir/Madam,
Objection to the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project (SSD 6456)
I strongly object to any Coal Seam Gas extraction in the Pilliga Forest, the largest temperate woodland remaining in Australia.
The area under threat from the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project contains woodlands of Narrow-leaf Ironbark, Broad-leaf Ironbark, Pilliga Box and Bimble Box, as well as many other plant communities including Brigalow, Green Mallee and Broombush scrublands that have been cleared from other parts of the Central West of NSW.
This is not low value uncared for space. The Pilliga woodlands are home to more than 900 plant species, including at least 12 rare and threatened plants. There are 14 frog species, 32 mammals (including 12 bats) about 50 reptiles and over 200 bird species. Pilliga woodlands support 22 threatened animal species (Glossy Black Cockatoo, Regent Honeyeater, Gilbert's Whistler, Painted Honeyeater, Turquoise Parrot, Barking Owl, Masked Owl, Malleefowl, Square-tailed Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Bush Stone Curlew, Eastern Pygmy-possum, Squirrel Glider, Koala, Black-striped Wallaby, Rufous Bettong, Pilliga Mouse, Greater Long-eared Bat, Yellow-bellied Sheathtail Bat, Little Pied Bat, Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat). It's not a suitable place for coal seam gas (CSG) field development.
The proposal by Santos includes a network of intersecting roads and pipelines, water extraction, lines of wells, chemical intrusions, structures, work sites of the proposed gas field. Such infrastructure will bring fragment and ruin the Pilliga woodland ecosystems.
It is very concerning that the government would even contemplate a project like this that has the capacity to pollute the aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) which have intake areas in the Pilliga forest that must be protected. Ours is a dry land and these aquifers are critical to the life of its ecosystems and a necessary resource for agriculture.
Recharge of the Pilliga aquifer will become impossible due to the proposed quantities of water extraction required for coal seam gas (CSG) development. The GAB and the integrity of the intake bed strata must take priority over CSG production in the Pilliga. Fracking of the coal seam will compromise the GAB strata. If fracking is a contingent part of the proposed project, and Santos must be refused consent.
Damage to the GAB will have dire consequences, such as loss hydrostatic pressure in the artesian wellheads of the GAB. Water is gold for the agriculture and grazing Central West NSW and region is heavily dependent upon access to the GAB. The GAB is also essential to the survival of unique mound spring ecosystems located further west. Any disruption to the fine balance of groundwater and its replenishment has ripple effects well beyond calculation or modelling by Santos. The regional economy and ecology are dependent on the GAB and the GAB must not be jeopardised.
After considering the environmental constraints of the Pilliga forest and hazards related to CSG production and the GAB, I request that the NSW Department of Planning and Environment recommends refusal of development consent of this Santos proposal in the Pilliga.
There should be No CSG infrastructure in the Willala Wilderness Area; areas of old growth woodland must be protected, as well as all endangered ecological communities, and threatened plant and animal species habitats. Adequate protection of these and other heritage values of the Pilliga woodlands will be impossible if this CSG proposal is approved.
The CSG industry has proven itself unable to effectively rehabilitate the very extensive areas it has mined, leaving many clearings and infrastructure in forests and farmlands across NSW and Queensland. The industry has shown itself to be incapable of removing its fence lines, tanks, dams, quarries, access roads, accommodation and clearings from the mined out areas.
Santos must be refused development consent.
I hope you will give my representations serious consideration and I thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Jennifer Gill

I dislike the Santos actions

Dear Harvey,

Could you please make a submission Today objecting to the Narrabri Gas Project in 73,734 hectares of the Pilliga forest? Today's the last day for submissions.

The Santso CSG project involves the progressive development of a coal seam gas field with up to 850 gas wells and 425 well pads over 20 years, with 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.
You must use the Department's submission webform to lodge a submission. Answer all the form's questions and there's a couple of buttons you have to tick and push to lodge your submission. The form starts after the documentation material on exhibition on this link. Scroll towards the bottom of the page to find the submission form (link below)

http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/page/development-categories/mining--petroleum---extractive-industries/petroleum/?action=view_job&job_id=6456
Keith Muir
Director, Colong Foundation for Wilderness

Executive Director
Resource Assessments
Department of Planning and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001
Dear Sir/Madam,

Objection to the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project (SSD 6456)

The following information is to highlight the significance of the Pilaga Forest in the interconnected environment of fauna and flora not only in the State of NSW but also in Australia.
The Pilliga Forest is the largest temperate woodland remaining in Australia. It comprises woodlands of Narrow-leaf Ironbark, Broad-leaf Ironbark, Pilliga Box and Bimble Box, as well as many other plant communities including Brigalow, Green Mallee and Broombush scrublands that have been cleared from other parts of the Central West of NSW.

The Pilliga woodlands are home to more than 900 plant species, including at least 12 rare and threatened plants. There are 14 frog species, 32 mammals (including 12 bats) about 50 reptiles and over 200 bird species. Pilliga woodlands support 22 threatened animal species (Glossy Black Cockatoo, Regent Honeyeater, Gilbert's Whistler, Painted Honeyeater, Turquoise Parrot, Barking Owl, Masked Owl, Malleefowl, Square-tailed Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Bush Stone Curlew, Eastern Pygmy-possum, Squirrel Glider, Koala, Black-striped Wallaby, Rufous Bettong, Pilliga Mouse, Greater Long-eared Bat, Yellow-bellied Sheathtail Bat, Little Pied Bat, Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat). It's not a suitable place for coal seam gas (CSG) field development.

I submit that it is inappropriate to fragment and degrade the Pilliga's woodlands with CSG infrastructure and roads as proposed by Santos. A network of intersecting roads and pipelines, water extraction, lines of wells, chemical intrusions, structures, work sites of the proposed gas field will bring ruin the Pilliga woodland ecosystems.

The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) aquifers have intake areas in the Pilliga forest that require protection to ensure the overriding necessity of unpolluted water now and always.

Recharge of the Pilliga aquifer will become impossible due to the proposed quantities of water extraction required for coal seam gas (CSG) development. The GAB and the integrity of the intake bed strata must take priority over CSG production in the Pilliga. Fracking of the coal seam will compromise the GAB strata. It fracking is a contingent part of the proposed project, and Santos must be refused consent.

Damage to the GAB will have dire consequences, such as loss hydrostatic pressure in the artesian wellheads of the GAB. Water is gold for the agriculture and grazing Central West NSW and region is heavily dependent upon access to the GAB. The GAB is also essential to the survival of unique mound spring ecosystems located further west. Any disruption to the fine balance of groundwater and its replenishment has ripple effects well beyond calculation or modelling by Santos. The regional economy and ecology are dependent on the GAB and the GAB must not be jeopardised.

After considering the environmental constraints of the Pilliga forest and hazards related to CSG production and the GAB, I request that the NSW Department of Planning and Environment recommends refusal of development consent of this Santos proposal in the Pilliga.

There should be No CSG infrastructure in the Willala Wilderness Area; areas of old growth woodland must be protected, as well as all endangered ecological communities, and threatened plant and animal species habitats. Adequate protection of these and other heritage values of the Pilliga woodlands will be impossible if this CSG proposal is approved.

I also believe that the natural dark night sky will be compromised by light pollution from gas flares and CSG lighting infrastructure. Dark night skies are essential for the effective operation of the internationally renowned Siding Springs Observatory located nearby.

The CSG industry has proven itself unable to effectively rehabilitate the very extensive areas it has mined, leaving many clearings and infrastructure in forests and farmlands across NSW and Queensland. The industry has shown itself to be incapable of removing its fence lines, tanks, dams, quarries, access roads, accommodation and clearings should also be removed from the mined out areas. Santos must be refused development consent.

I hope you will give my representations serious consideration and I thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Yours sincerely,

Congratulations NSW and Australia.
You are about to terminally effect the water in the local aquifers and also the Great Artesian Basin. Can you prove this accusation to be incorrect ? NO.
So with this as a very likely result apart from desecation by the brine etc pumped to the surface of large tracts of land.
If we farmers did this we would be immediately before the courts. So why give the gas boys the go ahead to do untold damage.
Nsw and the feds should have insisted on other gas producers
Providing gas at a reduced rate to benefit the economy etc before allowing them to export. You played right into their hands.
Now ,as a knee jerk reaction to rrationalise the situation you
Trying to allow Santos etc to wreck the environment in haste
For your own mistakes.
Please be big enough to realise this and not add to this folly.
Think of the future of this fantastic land and do not allow this proposal to happen.
Why do you guys always beleive the experts who are employed directly or indirectly by this and other extraction industries and
Summerally dismiss the locals and their experts out of hand?
If in any doubt you should surely act responsibly and take caution until you are absolutely certain no adverse damage will be done ..
Will you stand up and be proud of your decision in 10,15, 20 years time and tell yor grand children how you were responsible
For the detriment, the damage, the detritis, the disaster, the
Desecration, the devastation, thedespoilation,the denuding , the
Damage, the deathwarrant to the environment , the utter deception, the deforestation, the defoliation, the demented, the
Delusion, the demolistion, the denaturing, the depredation, the
Desiccation, the desolution, thedespicable desperation, the despised despotism, the wilful destruction, the deviant, thedevious, the dictatorial, the disappointed , the disarranged, the discrediting, the disgraceful, the disgusting, the dishonourable, the disinformation , the disingenuous, the disintegration, the dissipation, the distortion, the distressing, the
Disturbing, the will be disused, the divisory, the dreadful, the dubious, the duplicity, and very disappointed if this is nodded through the pac system.
Please, have we not got a responsibility to leave this earth in a better place rather than raped and plundered and discarded, for
What......getting the government out of a hole, not even being
Able to use the gas for house and home or for Australian industry and startup industries who could do with an economic advantage to get going.
The uk by taxing so heavily , missed the opportunity to help
Their industry when the North Sea Oil was exploited.
If this goes through then at least let Australia benefit from it and not the fat cats and foreign companies vertically intergrated
And taxed abroad if at all.

Please do not allow this. Invest in renewables

THE PILLIGA FOREST MUST BE LEFT ALONE. NO AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL WRANGLING OR JUSTIFICATION WILL MAKE THE DESPOILING OF THIS FOREST AND THE WATER TABLE, LET ALONE THE LIFE WITHIN THE FOREST - JUSTIFIABLE.
MINING IS DESECRATING OUR COUNTRY, REGION BY REGION. SHORT TERM GAINS WILL BE SEEN IN THE FUTURE AS LONG TERM ANNHIALATION OF COUNTRY THAT WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO RECOVER. WHAT YOU DO IS FOREVER. YOU CAN'T UNDO THE DAMAGE YOU WILL DO. I ASK YOU TO PLEASE...DO NOT CONTINUE THIS PLAN.

Executive Director
Resource Assessments
Department of Planning and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001

Dear Sir/Madam,

Objection to the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project (SSD 6456)

The Pilliga Forest is the largest temperate woodland remaining in Australia. It comprises woodlands of Narrow-leaf Ironbark, Broad-leaf Ironbark, Pilliga Box and Bimble Box, as well as many other plant communities including Brigalow, Green Mallee and Broombush scrublands that have been cleared from other parts of the Central West of NSW.

The Pilliga woodlands are home to more than 900 plant species, including at least 12 rare and threatened plants. There are 14 frog species, 32 mammals (including 12 bats) about 50 reptiles and over 200 bird species. Pilliga woodlands support 22 threatened animal species (Glossy Black Cockatoo, Regent Honeyeater, Gilbert's Whistler, Painted Honeyeater, Turquoise Parrot, Barking Owl, Masked Owl, Malleefowl, Square-tailed Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Bush Stone Curlew, Eastern Pygmy-possum, Squirrel Glider, Koala, Black-striped Wallaby, Rufous Bettong, Pilliga Mouse, Greater Long-eared Bat, Yellow-bellied Sheathtail Bat, Little Pied Bat, Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat). It's not a suitable place for coal seam gas (CSG) field development.

It's inappropriate to fragment and degrade the Pilliga's woodlands with CSG infrastructure and roads as proposed by Santos. A network of intersecting roads and pipelines, water extraction, lines of wells, chemical intrusions, structures, work sites of the proposed gas field will bring ruin the Pilliga woodland ecosystems.

The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) aquifers have intake areas in the Pilliga forest that must be protected.

Recharge of the Pilliga aquifer will become impossible due to the proposed quantities of water extraction required for coal seam gas (CSG) development. The GAB and the integrity of the intake bed strata must take priority over CSG production in the Pilliga. Fracking of the coal seam will compromise the GAB strata. It fracking is a contingent part of the proposed project, and Santos must be refused consent.

Damage to the GAB will have dire consequences, such as loss hydrostatic pressure in the artesian wellheads of the GAB. Water is gold for the agriculture and grazing Central West NSW and region is heavily dependent upon access to the GAB. The GAB is also essential to the survival of unique mound spring ecosystems located further west. Any disruption to the fine balance of groundwater and its replenishment has ripple effects well beyond calculation or modelling by Santos. The regional economy and ecology are dependent on the GAB and the GAB must not be jeopardised.

After considering the environmental constraints of the Pilliga forest and hazards related to CSG production and the GAB, I request that the NSW Department of Planning and Environment recommends refusal of development consent of this Santos proposal in the Pilliga.

There should be No CSG infrastructure in the Willala Wilderness Area; areas of old growth woodland must be protected, as well as all endangered ecological communities, and threatened plant and animal species habitats. Adequate protection of these and other heritage values of the Pilliga woodlands will be impossible if this CSG proposal is approved.

I also believe that the natural dark night sky will be compromised by light pollution from gas flares and CSG lighting infrastructure. Dark night skies are essential for the effective operation of the internationally renowned Siding Springs Observatory located nearby.

The CSG industry has proven itself unable to effectively rehabilitate the very extensive areas it has mined, leaving many clearings and infrastructure in forests and farmlands across NSW and Queensland. The industry has shown itself to be incapable of removing its fence lines, tanks, dams, quarries, access roads, accommodation and clearings should also be removed from the mined out areas. Santos must be refused development consent.

I hope you will give my representations serious consideration and I thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Yours sincerely,
Marg Beal

The artesian basin is a precious resource that does not only belong to the present generation, it will be vital for future generations. CSG mining will threaten the viability of the basin. CSG also produces many toxic gases that the miners do not seem to have any control over. It also renders useless good farming country. Continuing food production and clean water are more important than a short term gas well. When the land and water supplies are ruined, it will be too late to do anything about it.

Executive Director
Resource Assessments
Department of Planning and Environment
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001

Dear Sir/Madam,

Objection to the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project (SSD 6456)

The Pilliga Forest is the largest temperate woodland remaining in Australia. It comprises woodlands of Narrow-leaf Ironbark, Broad-leaf Ironbark, Pilliga Box and Bimble Box, as well as many other plant communities including Brigalow, Green Mallee and Broombush scrublands that have been cleared from other parts of the Central West of NSW.

The Pilliga woodlands are home to more than 900 plant species, including at least 12 rare and threatened plants. There are 14 frog species, 32 mammals (including 12 bats) about 50 reptiles and over 200 bird species. Pilliga woodlands support 22 threatened animal species (Glossy Black Cockatoo, Regent Honeyeater, Gilbert's Whistler, Painted Honeyeater, Turquoise Parrot, Barking Owl, Masked Owl, Malleefowl, Square-tailed Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Bush Stone Curlew, Eastern Pygmy-possum, Squirrel Glider, Koala, Black-striped Wallaby, Rufous Bettong, Pilliga Mouse, Greater Long-eared Bat, Yellow-bellied Sheathtail Bat, Little Pied Bat, Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat). It's not a suitable place for coal seam gas (CSG) field development.

It's inappropriate to fragment and degrade the Pilliga's woodlands with CSG infrastructure and roads as proposed by Santos. A network of intersecting roads and pipelines, water extraction, lines of wells, chemical intrusions, structures, work sites of the proposed gas field will bring ruin the Pilliga woodland ecosystems.

The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) aquifers have intake areas in the Pilliga forest that must be protected.

Recharge of the Pilliga aquifer will become impossible due to the proposed quantities of water extraction required for coal seam gas (CSG) development. The GAB and the integrity of the intake bed strata must take priority over CSG production in the Pilliga. Fracking of the coal seam will compromise the GAB strata. It fracking is a contingent part of the proposed project, and Santos must be refused consent.

Damage to the GAB will have dire consequences, such as loss hydrostatic pressure in the artesian wellheads of the GAB. Water is gold for the agriculture and grazing Central West NSW and region is heavily dependent upon access to the GAB. The GAB is also essential to the survival of unique mound spring ecosystems located further west. Any disruption to the fine balance of groundwater and its replenishment has ripple effects well beyond calculation or modelling by Santos. The regional economy and ecology are dependent on the GAB and the GAB must not be jeopardised.

After considering the environmental constraints of the Pilliga forest and hazards related to CSG production and the GAB, I request that the NSW Department of Planning and Environment recommends refusal of development consent of this Santos proposal in the Pilliga.

There should be No CSG infrastructure in the Willala Wilderness Area; areas of old growth woodland must be protected, as well as all endangered ecological communities, and threatened plant and animal species habitats. Adequate protection of these and other heritage values of the Pilliga woodlands will be impossible if this CSG proposal is approved.

I also believe that the natural dark night sky will be compromised by light pollution from gas flares and CSG lighting infrastructure. Dark night skies are essential for the effective operation of the internationally renowned Siding Springs Observatory located nearby.

The CSG industry has proven itself unable to effectively rehabilitate the very extensive areas it has mined, leaving many clearings and infrastructure in forests and farmlands across NSW and Queensland. The industry has shown itself to be incapable of removing its fence lines, tanks, dams, quarries, access roads, accommodation and clearings should also be removed from the mined out areas. Santos must be refused development consent.

I hope you will give my representations serious consideration and I thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Yours sincerely, Geoff Dowsett 65 Laurence St Pennant Hills 2120

No unconventional/CSG gas mining should be allowed in the Narrabri area as there are too many 'unknowns'. If the NSW Government made a detailed examination of the after affects of CSG mining in Queensland, this is what would be revealed. The catastrophic affect on land, water, peoples' health and wellbeing and more - all add up to too greater negative impact in these areas to risk this project going ahead. The threat to the quantity and quality of water is an obvious tick against this project. The negative health impacts on people are irreversible after the fact! The threat to flora and fauna is also irreversible. We need this area for our food production! Unspoilt, without left over residues on water and land. Without people losing their livelihoods and places of living for many generations. Please, could the NSW Government instead put money into alternative energy options. No unconventional gas mining in Narrabri or ever!!!

I strongly oppose the Pilliga CSG project. As a scientist formally employed by CSIRO in the energy domain, with over 25 years of post graduate experience in the assessment of environmental impacts of energy production, it is my firm and considered opinion that development of the Pillaga CSG resource as proposed will have severe impacts on the air, water & land that have not been addressed by the proponent, or more conceringly, have been significantly understated. The impacts of fugitive CSG emissions (predominantly as methane) on climate and the contamination and salination of soil and water resources by CSG mining are unacceptable and non sustainable costs to our community, country and planet that are not and can never be mitigated by short term profit and energy supply motives.

Executive Director
Resource Assessments
Department of Planning and Environment
Sydney NSW 2001
Dear Sir/Madam,
Objection to the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project (SSD 6456)
ItÂ's .
As the largest temperate woodland remaining in Australia the Pilliga Forest is not a suitable place for coal seam gas (CSG) field development. It comprises woodlands of Narrow-leaf Ironbark, Broad-leaf Ironbark, Pilliga Box and Bimble Box, as well as many other placommunities including Brigalow, Green Mallee and Broombush scrublands that have been cleared from other parts of the Central West of NSW.
The Pilliga woodlands are home to more than 900 plant species, including at least 12 rare and threatened plants. There are 14 frog species, 32 mammals (including 12 bats) about 50 reptiles and over 200 bird species. Pilliga woodlands support 22 threatened animal species (Glossy Black Cockatoo, Regent Honeyeater, GilbertÂ's Whistler, Painted Honeyeater, Turquoise Parrot, Barking Owl, Masked Owl, Malleefowl, Square-tailed Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Bush Stone Curlew, Eastern Pygmy-possum, Squirrel Glider, Koala, Black-striped Wallaby, Rufous Bettong, Pilliga Mouse, Greater Long-eared Bat, Yellow-bellied Sheathtail Bat, Little Pied Bat, Large-eared Pied Bat, Eastern Cave Bat).
It is wrong to fragment and degrade the PilligaÂ's woodlands with CSG infrastructure and roads as proposed by Santos. A network of intersecting roads and pipelines, water extraction, lines of wells, chemical intrusions, structures, work sites of the proposed gas field will bring ruin the Pilliga woodland ecosystems.
Further, the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) aquifers have intake areas in the Pilliga forest that must be protected.
Recharge of the Pilliga aquifer will be fatally compromised due to the proposed quantities of water extraction required for CSG development. The precautionary principle should apply: the GAB and the integrity of the intake bed strata must take priority over CSG production in the Pilliga. Fracking of the coal seam will compromise the GAB strata. If fracking is a contingent part of the proposed project, Santos must be refused consent.
Damage to the GAB will have dire consequences, such as loss of hydrostatic pressure in the artesian wellheads of the GAB. Agriculture and grazing in the Central West NSW region is heavily dependent on access to the GAB. The GAB is also essential to the survival of unique mound spring ecosystems located further west. Any disruption to the fine balance of groundwater and its replenishment has ripple effects well beyond calculation or modelling by Santos. The regional economy and ecology are dependent on the GAB and the GAB must not be jeopardised.
After considering the environmental constraints of the Pilliga forest and hazards related to CSG production and the GAB, I request that the NSW Department of Planning and Environment recommends refusal of development consent of this Santos proposal in the Pilliga.
There should be no CSG infrastructure in the Willala Wilderness Area; areas of old growth woodland must be protected, as well as all endangered ecological communities, and threatened plant and animal species habitats. Adequate protection of these and other heritage values of the Pilliga woodlands will be impossible if this CSG proposal is approved.
I also understand that the natural dark night sky will be compromised by light pollution from gas flares and CSG lighting infrastructure. Dark night skies are essential for the effective operation of the internationally renowned Siding Springs Observatory located nearby.
The CSG industry has proven itself both accident prone and unable or unwilling effectively to rehabilitate the very extensive areas it has mined, leaving ugly scars, leaking well caps and derelict infrastructure in forests and farmlands across NSW and Queensland. The industry has failed to remove its fence lines, tanks, dams, quarries, access roads, accommodation and clearings from the mined out areas. Santos is typical of such industry players and must be refused development consent.
I hope you will give my representations serious consideration. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

I'd like to start my response to this EIS with a question -
How many submissions have you received?
How many support this project?
How many object to it?
That should be enough to give you your answer when making a decision on this project.

You can see from your own process that the numbers of people in this country, this wide brown land, who do not want this project to go ahead, far outweigh those who do.

As a filmmaker and journalist, I have spent much of the last three months travelling from Sydney, to Canberra and Brisbane to the Pilliga with visits to Moree down to Willow Tree and west to Warren.

I have spoken to farmers, protestors, residents and experts, the young, the old and the First Nation people. I have filmed dozens upon dozens of hours of footage about what they think of this project.

I have come to the conclusion that apart from the lack of credible information in Santos's document, apart from my dissatisfaction with proper and detailed facts on where the salt is going, apart from my fears of the depressurisation and polluting of the waters of the GAB, and toxins in the air, and apart from my lack of faith in Santos's ability to ensure there will be no environmental catastrophes, that the one basic fact is, there is no social licence for this project.

The people don't want it. That should be enough.


Here are four of the films myself and my creative partner David Lowe made on the subject of the CSG industry and the Santos Narrabri Gas Project.



https://vimeo.com/214285652

- Santos has released their Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Narrabri Gas Project - the submission closing date is May 22. The EIS is the last opportunity for the public to respond before Santos attempts to get their project approved. Thousands of people from across north-west NSW and across the country are determined to see the proposed gas fields shut down.




https://vimeo.com/217591300

- Anne Kennedy has a special message for anyone wondering why it's important to put in a submission against the Santos Narrabri EIS.





https://vimeo.com/217890592

- NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham goes in hard against the Santos Narrabri Gas Project.




https://vimeo.com/218382778

- Helen Bender lost her father after a long, bruising fight with invasive gas companies. This is her warning to other Australian farmers facing this threat.

I have visited the Pilliga area a number of times and seen at first hand the sensitivity of the local ecosystems of flora and fauna.

I am aware that it constitutes a significant portion of the southern recharge area for the Great Artesian Basin, a water resource on which many rural communities in and beyond North-Western NSW depend for their livelihoods and wellbeing.

I am also aware of the potential impact on significant agricultural endeavours, in particular but not limited to honey production.

I am also aware of the overwhelming opposition to this proposal by local communities right across the North-West.

For these reasons I oppose the proposal by Santos and urge that it be rejected.

The Great Artesian Basin is more valuable than the short term financial gains of any corporation via international export.
'Jobs and growth' are negative gains if the trade off means irreversible damage to our water resources, native forests, and agricultural lands.

Local authorities have not proven themselves adequately informed of the risks and inadequacies of the (demonstrably sub-par) EIS, nor objectively motivated to assess the pros and cons to the region's longterm wellbeing.

Santos are creating severe social disharmony by buying off our sporting and social clubs, schools and community events - casually creating rifts between neighbours, let alone municipal representatives and their constituents.

Land, water and environmental resources do not belong to our generation - let alone a big company. It is the duty of all Australian's to protect our national resources for generations to come. Please do what is right, not what is expedient.

Attn: Executive Director, Resource Assessments, DOPE

I am a landholder at Maules Creek which is located within the Narrabri Shire and as such I am concerned by the potential impacts of Coal Seam Gas extraction on the environment, farms and community.

The development of this project will have detrimental impacts on communities and farms reliant on the local environment for their livelihood and way of life, as such I do not support it in its current form.


Most reasonable people reading the Santos Narrabri Gas Project (NGP) would agree that not enough information for landholders that are likely to be affected by any adverse impacts, eg alluvial groundwater, surface water overland flow, surface water contamination, soil contamination, loss of property productive value, reduction in value of property, due to the extraction process, has been provided.

Without the necessary details on the potential design and construction of the NGP how do affected landholders continue to operate while the shadow of detrimental impacts from the project hangs over their businesses.

What systems are being put in place for affected landowners to record negative impacts on their farms and businesses and how could these impacts be prevented or reduced and mitigated?

Will Santos set up a fund to compensate these business holders when their properties and business are effected and how will the Department of Planning administer the fund to ensure equity and transparency?

Indeed if it is the natural environment that is being impacted how can those impacts be prevented or reversed? Are the impacts likely to occur considered by the decision makers to be a "fair cost" for the amount of energy that is to be extracted. The impacts of fugitive emissions from the extraction and transmission process have not been extensively quantified nor any mechanisms for the rectification of the damage from these emissions fully costed and funded.

The costs of these impacts are felt firstly by the local communities in which occur, whether these are plant, animal or human as has been the experience locally with coal extraction, while any benefits are usually distributed further from the extraction site, eg share dividends, royalties, tax receipts, FIFO or DIDO jobs. After serving on an extraction project Comminity Consultation Committee it is clear DOPE and the EPA has little or no ability to ensure extraction companies are compliant with the approvals to operate despite community requests to protect against negative impacts.

I do not support the Santos Narrabri Gas Project going ahead due to the far reaching impacts of the extraction techniques. Also the paucity of regulation currently applied to existing 'major projects' leaves me questioning whether there is sufficient monitoring expertise and capacity to prevent detrimental impacts on the environment in which we live and work.

Thank you