Narrabri Gas

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.

Coal Seam gas mining should not go ahead in the Pilliga. Most of all Australians realise the destructiveness of this mining & drilling practice. Please help protect the unique landscapes & environments within the Pilliga for generations to come.

Can you tell me who wants this project to go ahead?
Do the Traditional Owners want this?
Do the local farmers want this?
Is there any local community groups who want this?
Are there any environment groups that want this?
Is there any good science that supports this?

Is this project only supported by the Gas Company?
Is this project supported by local, state or federal government?

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 .

Damage to the water table which is crucial to our local farmers.
Threatens important flora and fauna
Mass clearing and disturbance and fragmentation of critical habitat.
Leads to climate change
Farmers do not support it.
Accumulation of salty waste which can't be disposed of.
Project is financially not viable which could result in limited funds for cleanup and rehabilitation.
The future is in renewables.
Fines are miniscule if a breach is made therefore removing any incentive to prevent spills or breaches.

I object to any CSG mines, not just in the Piliga, but anywhere at all because of the adverse affects it has on the environment.
I do not wish to see out flora and fauna destroyed by the greed of mankind.

1. You know the Narrabri Gas Project will risk precious water sources, including the Great Australian Basin--Australia's largest groundwater aquifer. Why risk it?
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.

You are aware what has happened in Queensland: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-23/condamine-river-bubbling-methane-gas-set-alight-greens-mp/7352578

and the USA and Britain. Why are you risking people's health and wellbeing when Australia is perfect for solar power and windpower? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/14/fracking-hell-live-next-shale-gas-well-texas-us

2. The Gamilaraay Traditional Custodians are opposed as am I. Why are you going to destroy priceless history and the well being and health of the Aboriginal peoples?

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, as do I. Livlihoods have been ruined and the health and wellbeing of farmer's families has been destroyed in other fracked areas in the world.

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. See the references below.

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. Now you are making humans a threatened species.

6. Coal seam gas fuels dangerous climate change as we all know.

We have little time to turn around the climate change damage that is coming and has already begun. So why add to the problem?

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/

Leave Australia and the Pillaga Region alone and free from fracking.

Please do not allow the Narrabri CSG mining project to go ahead. Listen to the community and the people of Australia - this is not what we want!!

There should be no submissions because you should have just said NO. Your primary goal is to protect the interests of Australia and its people, the primary goal for people is preservation of the land and its natural resources so they can continue to live. By prioritising GDP over sustainability you have overstepped your mandate. Any decisions like this should result in improaonmwmt for those responsible for treason against the Australian pwoolw.

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.

As a NSW ratepayer and citizen, I want my elected representatives to cease gas exploration in the Pilliga.
My decision is based on the following:
1) There are viable alternatives to natural gas.
2) The Pilliga has been farmed by primary producers for generations. These people do not want gas exploration on their farms.
3) Habitat loss to wildlife is preventable by leaving the Pilliga top form its function as it exists now.
4) The artesian water is vital to the healthy ecological future of the region. Humans rely on a healthy ecology and the government must look long term at the effects of its policy here.

Therefore, I am totally opposed to any gas further gas exploration in the Pilliga area and want my total opposition listened to by the State Govenment.

Dear NSW government,it is imperative that the Pilliga region be left as a natural undisturbed area in view of mining,or drilling for gas.The overwhelming statistics that guide against this form of gas extraction near major water tables should be enough to instill common sense not to allow degradation of the natural environment.I strongly disagree with this process and urge you to look after our natural treasures.
My politics are purely protection of the environment in which we survive.

Coal Seam Gas is poison for our population and for our water ways. Aboriginals have kept the water clean for thousands of years and for the last hundred years, so much damage has been done. We can not eat money. Fracking & coal seam gas is dangerous for our future and our environment. Please do not let this go through, it is a disgusting insult to our country.
We need to protect and respect this land, not trash it.
People already affected by this horrible abuse of our natural environment have lost their swimming holes & water supplies.
Put the planet first not lining government and big industries already wealthy pockets. These issues always effect the poor & the locals, not the rich who live far away & just want money. You can not eat money! Fresh drinking water is the most important thing for the survival of the human race!

Any new coal seam gas project in 2017 is disastrously short-sighted, and environmentally irresponsible on behalf of the drillers. the use of such energy resources is a well documented cause of the global warming problem that is the single biggest threat to existence as we know it. thats not my opinion, thats scientific fact, against which the only deniers are those with vested financial interests.

A coal seam gas mine such as this moves us an inch closer to destroying our existence. don't allow it - an alternative source of energy, that doesn't contribute to global warming must be the only projects approved by a government with a long term goal of the well being of the people.

Fossil fuels are a thing of the past. Santos is a failing company with a proven track record of environmental mismanagement. They cannot be trusted to operate this unnecessary project safely.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Ruining our precious landscape and water supplies for the sake of a non sustainable fuel. I am strongly opposed.

The great artesian basin is a shared and vital water resource Santos has absolutely no moral right to disturb it. Frack right off Santos.

I object to the proposed Narrabri Gas Project on social, environmental and economic grounds.

We have seen the disastrous impacts of the development of gasfields in Queensland to the detriment of the environment (from the unmonitored and out of control fugitive emissions of methane - contributing to global warming and climate change - to the challenges associated with the disposal of contaminated water & salt from coal seams - the dewatering of which impacts on farmers' bore water & hence ability to stay in business); and to social cohesion and well-being (FIFO workers living in camps & contributing little to local economy, despair & sickness suffered by those unfortunate enough to live in close proximity to gasfields - children and the elderly being particularly vulnerable). And all this for an industry geared to export internationally to fulfill contracts which were not made in the best interests of Australia or its people (domestically we are paying a lot more for gas despite increased production, as our local prices have risen to match international parity price).

For these reasons and many others gasfield development is not a good idea anywhere, and particularly not in the Pilliga region of NSW, which scientists understand to be an important recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin, Australia's largest aquifer. Drilling through the sandstone of this system may well have unforeseen consequences for the complex and interrelated waterways of the North West of NSW and beyond. The opposition by local farmers shows that they are very alert to the risks that gasfield development in the Pilliga poses to their very livelihoods. There is also strong opposition from local representatives of the indigenous Gamilaraay peoples who see the proposed gasfield development as a desecration of their sacred land and water.

I am concerned by reports that the EIS for the Narrabri Gas Project has downplayed or completely ignored the risks to endangered ecological communities of the Pilliga, such as local koala populations, rare boxgum woodlands and newly discovered stygofauna. There are other concerns such as the risk of catastrophic bushfire in the already fire-prone Pilliga forest and the impacts on our world-class astronomical facilities at Siding Spring Observatory due to unacceptable levels of light pollution. The coal seam gas exploration activities in the Pilliga over the years have already resulted in a number of spills which have caused considerable long term damage to the local environment. If this project is allowed to continue and expand we will likely see a lot more of this.

In summary there is no good reason - economic, social or environmental - why the Narrabri Gas Project should be allowed to continue at all. There are very few business interests who stand to profit from this development. During a recent visit to Narrabri to see for myself the impacts that the industry has already had on the environment and the community, a local police constable told me his opinion that the only people in the local area who were in favour of the gas mining industry were (apart from Santos employees) from the Narrabri Chamber of Commerce and the local council (where apparent conflicts of interest may be discerned). It appears to be a classic case of a few profiting at the expense of many, which is surely the antithesis of what should be happening in a functioning democracy.

Do not allow Santos or any other mining company to drill for CSG in the Pilliga Forest. We need to protect these forests and the Great Artesian Basin for the future and not vandalise them for short term gain

I am concerned about the environmental health effects of this proposal.

I am against this project. Destroying the land and watertables of Australia without consent from the public goes against our democracy. It is obvious to the majority of the people now that our government system is corrupt. We won't stand for this.