Narrabri Gas

Coal seam gas CANNOT be allowed to operate on and in the Pilga region. This is a matter of importance because if this is allowed it would be the beginning of a catastrophe. This is a decion that could change this area forever and I truly fear the consequences.

It i not right to destroy our future for a harmful, temporary solution.

I would like to voice my concern and opposition to fossil fuel company Santos drilling 850 coal seam gas wells through the Pilliga forest and the Great Artesian Basin. The potential negative environmental effects on people, wildlife and nature haven't been explored enough in my opinion.

Please do not let this go ahead. For the sake of our children and their children. We can not possibly know the long term effects on our precious water cycle this will have. There are too many examples overseas where CSG has had externally negative affects on the environment for us to risk this project in such a beautiful environment.

Protect our water, protect the Pilgra, protect Australia! Water is life

It is now well established the short and long term effects of this form of mining. Water is our most precious resource and it is not worth risking the health of our water and land for short term energy gain. Please take a longer view in the damage this mining will inflict on this particular area and around this country and the responsibility you now have in your hands in making these decisions. Lets protect our land and water for future generations.

We need to be wise and compassionate in ALL our decisions, I want to leave a world for my grandchildren that is healthy and able to sustain ALL life. Clean water and air has to be first.

I have read in numerous places that globally an estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are lost each year. The remaining areas of native forest now left on earth should be rigorously defended.

In Australia deforestation is a huge issue especially in regions of Queensland, but also in NSW.

At a moment in history when the world is transitioning away from carbon intensive fuel sources, it is unconscionable to commence CSG in the pristine Pilliga region.

Australia should focus it's resources on job creation in developing it's renewable energy technologies and transitioning away from traditional fossil fuels in line with the rest of the developed world.

I am a property developer in Sydney and understand the need for development and progress. This progress should not be at the expense of the health of Australia's native heritage which should be protected for future generations.

This project should not proceed under any circumstance.

Thank you for your time and consideration of these comments.

Dylan McCallum

I am opposed to the coal seam gas development in the Pilliga Region. 850 wells in a pristine environment using Australia's water from the artisan basin. No way.
Fossil fuels like coal seam gas have no future in a safe and healthy climate for the earth. We must leave fossil fuel reserves in the ground to prevent catastrophic climate conditions for future generations.
I say no to this proposal.

Hello
Please do not allow coal seam gas exploration of any kind in this special place. And particularly to one with such huge scale and use of unsound technology.
Please look to long term economic, social and economic costs and benefits and make the rational decision.

Kind regards
Sarah

How can this go ahead for a short term profit .Risking the Artesian basin and subsequent contamination. Santos has already been found to have problems dealing with contaminated slurries .Please do not allow this to happen .Let think beyond the next election.. because when all the monies has gone what will be left for our grandchildren ??

I write in regards to my absolute disgust of even considering coal seam gas in the Pilliga. It is so obvious why not to proceed with coal seam gas I am not going to bother writing a 12,000 word manifesto. The 2 party government system is clearly so absolutely corrupt and ridden with nepotism, and matters as such clearly exhibit this to a T!

There is not the slightest justification for vandalising the Pilliga when Australia has enormous reserves of LNG such as Gorgon. It is completely unacceptable that this wonderful natural asset be for all time spoiled and degraded for the benefit of investors. The Narrabri region is already prosperous with farming, which has its own environmental cost, and the region should not be subject to further environmental degradation on the specious grounds that this generates jobs... jobs should be generated by renewable energy projects and Australian gas exports should be curbed so that Australians can benefit from their own gas reserves in areas such as Gorgon.

As a tax paying citizen I know it is my right to speak up about the things in our country that I know are not right and could be improved. The area of Coal seam gas mining is one of these issues Im strongly compelled to raise.
It is time for our Australian government to focus on renewable energy and funnel our tax paid funds towards this growth area. It is time to educate and even possibly financially support the "old and outmoded" into the modern and renewable.
It is time to cease with CSG and leave it in the ground.

I personally object to the application in which Santos has pit forward for CSG wells to be put in and destroy a huge part of NSW forestry and nature.

Please consider this a submission on behalf of the Pillaga - I believe the Environmental Impact Statement submitted by Santos flawed. Please don't allow their proposal to proceed. Thanks, Keri James.

The continuing of this dangerous and polluting mining is ridiculous. Governments supporting ventures such as these will go down in history as pariahs who destroyed the environment and poisoned the water tables rather than saviors of the environment and water. DO THE RIGHT THING FOR YOUR GRANDCHILDREN.

Lee McLennan

1. The Narrabri Gas Project risks precious water sources, including the Great Australian BasinÂ--AustraliaÂ'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 areasÂ--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 RiverÂ--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 waterÂ--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 Â`biodiversity hotspotsÂ' 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 pipelinesÂ--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 nationÂ'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 Â`dark sky parkÂ'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 PilligaÂ'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.

I object to Santos' Narrabri Gas Project in the Pilliga.

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 recognized 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 recognized 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.

Thanking you in advance for your immediate attention in this most urgent matter.

CSG is dangerous to underground water supplies and is not understood sufficiently to be an industry worth pursuing.