Narrabri Lateral Pipeline

I support this project this project because it represents a strategically important investment for New South Wales and Australia’s energy future.

Energy security and affordability remains one of the most critical public policy challenges of our generation. Reliable and affordable gas supply plays an essential role in balancing the variability of renewable energy and supporting households, hospitals, manufacturing, agriculture, and transport. Secure energy is not just a commodity—it is the foundational infrastructure that enables modern society to function. Energy piped through this project will underpin society’s progress, economic competitiveness, and overall national resilience.

Equally critical are the local benefits. Large infrastructure projects provide meaningful employment pathways, which directly strengthen regional communities. The company has clearly outlined commitments to maximising local participation in the workforce and supply chain. In regions such as Narrabri and surrounding communities, jobs for locals matter—supporting families, small businesses, apprenticeships, and long-term community stability. Economic opportunity in regional areas reduces social disadvantage and ensures young people can build futures without needing to leave home.

In reviewing the EIS, the company has demonstrated clear planning, risk mitigation, and adherence to regulatory frameworks to protect biodiversity, land, water, and air quality. Its track record indicates a proactive approach to environmental management, emphasising monitoring, adaptive safeguards, rehabilitation, and best-practice construction controls. The company has shown it understands its responsibility to ensure environmental safety and has established that this commitment will continue throughout the project lifecycle.

For these reasons, I support the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline and encourage its progression in the interests of energy security, regional employment, and responsible environmental stewardship.

This project has no environmental positives - I oppose it being built. We need to save Pilliga Forest habitat, the waterways to save pollution of Great Artesian Basin.
You need to listen and consult with traditional custodians and other active environmental groups & local community - to sustain other essential engagement with land management, farming etc

Hello, I’m a tax payer, parent, teacher and zookeeper.
I’m opposed to the loss of habitat and climate distruction tgat will result from this project. Pilliga is a recognised biodiversity hotspot and includes 50 listed threatened species.
Additionally clearing and construction noise stress animals like koalas who become more susceptible to disease as a direct result.
Another major concern is water quality. This project risks the great artesian basin and this has not been adequately addressed in assessments. A leak could cause critical contamination.
We need to be future planning and moving away from this over reliance on fossil fuels.

I have serious concerns about water and consider that this project should be assisted under the ‘water trigger’ under Federal law. It is of the utmost importance that the potential impact on the Great Artesian basin should be seriously and rigorously assessed.
I am concerned that burying pipelines under creeks will impact on their flow and the water table.

All conditions required to protect the cultural heritage of the Gomeroi people should be protected in perpetuity.

The idea that listed threatened species could be impacted by this project makes this an unacceptable project. In a biodiversity crisis , this should be top priority.

I am a tax payer and resident of the Blue Mountains in NSW, and I strenuously object to the Narrabri Lateral pipeline proposal for many reasons. The foremost of these is the likely damage to our vital Great Artesian Basin and a large number of other waterways in the Namoi and Murray Darling Basin. This project must be subject to a water trigger. Water is a vital resource to our farmers, our environment and therefore to all of us.
I am also greatly concerned about likely damage to Gomeroi cultural heritage and also to the extraordinary biodiversity of the Pilliga Forest.
On top of all of this Allianz insurance company won’t insure properties with gas infrastructure, this is the beginning of the end for coal and gas and not the time to be approving a new gas project. Thank you.

Thank you for providing an opportunity to have a say about this project.This pipeline is part of the larger Santos Narrabri Gas Project. I was one of the thousands who wrote submissions saying that the assessments of the impacts on the Pilliga, as a known major recharge area for the Great Artesian Basin were in no way scientifically accurate or adequete. I grew up as part of a farming family on the Liverpool Plains who have made big contributions to the wheat industry in NW NSW. I know first hand how critical the unique hydrology of the Pilliga and the Liverpool Plains is to farmers and graziers as well as Gomeroi Traditional owners for whom the Pilliga is sacred country. The Narrabri Lateral Pipeline route is planned to go across and under creeks in the Pilliga including the Bohena Creek … an upside down river where most of the time the water flows under a bed of sand. Burying the NLP under watercourses such as Bohena Creek will have big impacts on its flow and therefore the underlying water table and hydrology of the area. Access to artesian groundwater is crucial, without it agricultural industries do not exist and neither does the Gomeroi cultural landscape. Farmers around the Pilliga and on the Liverpool plains are understandibly very concerned about the high risk of contamination of the GAB and disruption and destruction of water resources from dewatering in a landscape already severely impacted by coal mining in close proximity to the Pilliga.The NLP proposal needs to be rejected in its present form, and reassessed under the ‘water trigger’ in Federal Environment Laws. To avoid an environmental disaster robust, rigorous assessment of the full impacts on the hydrology of the area and its impacts on the whole Great Artesian Basin needs to be done and its findings fully respected.

I object in the basis of concern over issues related to water, cultural heritage wildlife impacts, habitat loss and greenhouse gas emissions

The water trigger should be used as a key assessment point. Acquirers and water ways have not been adequately considered in the assessments.
Cultural heritage of the Gomeroi people has not been considered. Gas is a potent green house gas and we do not need more polluting green house gas.This project should not proceed.
Robert McLaughlin

See attached

This submission is an objection to the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline for these reasons:
1. The Pilliga Forest is a recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin water resource. The impact will be profound. It is polluting, dangerous & frankly irresponsible.
2. Impacts on Gomeroi cultural heritage:
• The Pilliga as a whole has deep spiritual, social and cultural significance for Gomeroi people. The National Native Title Tribunal acknowledged that all water resources, and Bohena Creek k in particular, is of major cultural importance to Gomeroi people. The Tribunal said there should be no ground or surface disturbance within 500m of Bohena Creek without Gomeroi consent.
• However, Santos plans to drill the pipeline right under Bohena Ck and across six other major creeks, disturbing the alluvial groundwater. The EIS does not discuss the cultural significance of the entire Bohena Creek for Gomeroi people at all.
• Construction of the pipeline will also wipe out two known sites of significance and damage a further four sites. Gomeroi people have said the Pilliga’s integrity is central to their wellbeing and cultural practice and must be kept whole.
3. Impacts on farm land and forest
• The pipeline crosses 12 farms, and a little under half the land it will disturb is agricultural land, one fifth of the land to be disturbed is cropping land. The other half of the pipeline cuts through the Pilliga forest.
• Construction will clear 168 hectares of forest and will cut a 30 metre wide swath through the Pilliga East forest, causing serious damage for microbats and small mammals.
• It will clear habitat and put at risk threatened species that have strongholds in the Pilliga, like the Pilliga Mouse, Eastern pygmy possum, and Corben’s Long-eared Bat.
4. Other issues
• Santos’ Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the pipeline claims the economic “benefits” of the Narrabri gas field and Hunter gas pipeline, but doesn’t take responsibility for the harm to biodiversity, water and climate from the bigger pipeline and gas field.
• The EIS should be amended to consider the full negative economic impacts of the greenhouse gas emissions from the gas field and the two pipelines, which is likely to be very significant given Narrabri is predicted to be the sixth biggest source of greenhouse pollution in NSW.
Sandra Warn

I object to the proposed Narrabri pipeline. I do not want this natural beauty to be destroyed by the greedy. The fracking of this natural bushland will have dire consequences not only to the people who live there and the biodiversity, it will lead to to it's destruction. Please don't.

Submission Opposing the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline

I strongly object to Santos’ proposed Narrabri Lateral Pipeline. This 55 km high-pressure gas pipeline would cause significant harm to Gomeroi cultural heritage, farmland, water resources, wildlife habitat, and the climate, while enabling the broader Narrabri Gas Project—one of the most damaging fossil fuel developments proposed in NSW.

My family and I were part of the incredible resistance to the proposed APA pipeline associated with the Narrabri Gas Project through our family farming operation in Coonamble and beyond. Our position has not changed. We remain steadfast in our opposition to projects that threaten the natural world, productive farmland, and culturally significant landscapes. We vehemently oppose the destruction caused by developments of this nature.

1. Impacts on Gomeroi Cultural Heritage

The Pilliga is of profound cultural, spiritual and social significance to Gomeroi people. The National Native Title Tribunal has recognised that all water resources in the area, and Bohena Creek in particular, are of major cultural importance. Importantly, the Tribunal recommended that no ground or surface disturbance occur within 500 metres of Bohena Creek without Gomeroi consent.

Despite this, Santos proposes to drill the pipeline directly under Bohena Creek and across six other major creeks, risking disturbance to alluvial groundwater systems that are integral to Gomeroi cultural practice. The EIS fails to address the cultural significance of the full Bohena Creek system, which is a serious omission.

Construction of the pipeline will also destroy two known cultural sites and damage four others. Gomeroi people have clearly stated that the integrity of the Pilliga must remain intact—its wholeness is directly connected to their wellbeing, identity and cultural continuity.

2. Impacts on Farmland, Forest and Biodiversity

The pipeline corridor cuts across 12 farms, with nearly half of all impacted land being agricultural. Around one-fifth of the affected farmland is cropping land that supports local livelihoods and food production.

The remaining corridor would carve a 30-metre-wide clearing through the Pilliga Forest, requiring the destruction of approximately 168 hectares of forest. This clearing will fragment habitat essential for numerous threatened species, including the Pilliga Mouse, Eastern Pygmy Possum and Corben’s Long-eared Bat—all of which have strongholds in the Pilliga.

Such habitat fragmentation will have long-term ecological consequences, particularly for microbats and small mammals that rely on dense forest corridors for survival.

3. Environmental and Climate Impacts Ignored in the EIS

Santos’ EIS focuses heavily on claimed economic “benefits” while failing to account for the significant environmental and climate harms associated with the pipeline and the broader Narrabri Gas Project.

The EIS does not address the greenhouse gas impacts of the combined Narrabri gasfield and associated pipelines, despite evidence that Narrabri would be one of the top six sources of greenhouse pollution in NSW. Methane leakage from coal seam gas extraction and long-distance pipelines poses a major climate risk.

The EIS should be amended to include a full assessment of the negative economic, environmental and climate impacts of greenhouse emissions from the entire project, including both pipelines and the gasfield.

4. Risks to Water Resources

The Pilliga Forest is a crucial recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin—one of the most important water resources in inland Australia. Disturbing creek beds, groundwater systems and recharge areas for a gas pipeline poses unacceptable risks to long-term water security for the region.

5. Community and Cultural Opposition

The Narrabri Lateral Pipeline is the essential link that would enable Santos to proceed with drilling 850 coal seam gas wells in the Pilliga Forest. Community opposition to this project remains strong and deeply rooted. The project threatens Gomeroi cultural heritage, agricultural land, local biodiversity, and the broader climate, and it does not have a social licence.

As the festive season begins, it is disappointing that a project of this scale has been placed on exhibition, limiting meaningful community engagement. Despite these constraints, the NSW Government must understand that public opposition to this development has not diminished.

Conclusion

For the reasons outlined above—cultural, environmental, agricultural and climate—I strongly urge the NSW Government to reject Santos’ Narrabri Lateral Pipeline. Protecting the Pilliga Forest, upholding the rights and cultural heritage of Gomeroi people, safeguarding precious water resources, and preventing further climate harm must be prioritised.

The community remains determined to protect the Pilliga and the Liverpool Plains from irreversible damage. I respectfully request that the Department refuse approval for this project.

Refer attached PDF

I object strongly to the fracking of the Pilliga Forest with an overseas company to be the main beneficiary. Gas currently being exported from our country overseas, leaving us short, should be pulled back by the government and that would render this project totally unnecessary.
My main concern however is the pipeline which will be constructed through some of the best soil in the whole of Australia - the Liverpool Plains. I've had a long association, though from a distance, with that area and it needs the utmost protection from interference caused by construction of pipes and the like through it. It is far too valuable a food source to be put in jeopardy.
My other concern is that this is located at the southern most point of the Great Artesian water source for so many farmers and communities. We just cannot jeopardise this important source of water - even though in Qld they have already started doing that. It is just "not on" to put that at any risk. Gas is also a huge emitter and we shouldn't be encouraging more - there should be less exploration and a move away from use of gas in homes and factories to renewables. Act on the gas exports and we just don't have a problem. By the time this project is completed, renewables will have come on board to make up for the current gap we have with energy supply. This project has been wrong from the very beginning and should never have been allowed to get this far.

I object to the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline on two grounds, the havoc it would wreck on the remarkably rich farm lands it would traverse, and the fact that it would enable greater production of gas which as it is a fossil fuel would contribute hugely to the carbon burden our planet is now contending with & the terrifying predictions of future disastrous , unsurvivable climate changes.
As well, I am enraged by the irresponsible behaviour of Santos, in particular their refusal to repair the leaking of methane from one of their buildings in NT, which we only now discover has been happening for 20 years. That on top of them & their cronies paying no tax & having access to other of our resources such as water as they make fortunes at our expense for their overseas shareholders.
Please reject their proposal for the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline.

Thankyou for this opportunity.

Janet Thompson

I object to the pipeline because serves Santos gasfield plan, which will cause permanent and irreparable environmental damage. Drilling 850 coal seam gas wells in a recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin in the Pilliga Forest is short sighted and irresponsible. The pipeline intensifies the environmental vandalism by sterilising and disrupting connectivity and corridors for farmers and wildlife, both already under threat.

Please see attached document.

Santos plans to drill the pipeline right under Bohena Ck and across six other major creeks, disturbing the alluvial groundwater. The EIS does not discuss the cultural significance of the entire Bohena Ck for Gomeroi people at all.
Construction of the pipeline will also wipe out two known sites of significance and damage a further four sites. Gomeroi people have said the Pilliga’s integrity is central to their wellbeing and cultural practice and must be kept whole.
Impacts on farm land and forest

The pipeline crosses 12 farms, and a little under half the land it will disturb is agricultural land, one fifth of the land to be disturbed is cropping land. The other half of the pipeline cuts through the Pilliga forest.
Construction will clear 168 hectares of forest and will cut a 30 metre wide swathe through the Pilliga East forest, causing serious damage for microbats and small mammals.
It will clear habitat and put at risk threatened species that have strongholds in the Pilliga, like the Pilliga Mouse, Eastern pygmy possum, and Corben’s Long-eared Bat.
Other issues

Santos’ Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the pipeline claims the economic “benefits” of the Narrabri gasfield and Hunter gas pipeline, but doesn’t take responsibility for the harm to biodiversity, water and climate from the bigger pipeline and gasfield.
The EIS should be amended to consider the full negative economic impacts of the greenhouse gas emissions from the gasfield and the two pipelines, which is likely to be very significant given Narrabri is predicted to be the sixth biggest source of greenhouse pollution in NSW.

I oppose Santos's gas pipeline. The Pilliga's integrity is central to the Gomeroi people's cultural heritage and wellbeing and must be kept whole. Santos's gas pipeline will disturb and threaten agricultural land, forest and species that inhabit the area. This gas pipeline will further impact and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions adding to the present world and local climate crisis.