At the time when the world is concerned about fossil fuels, opening up a giant new gasfield is madness--especially when it risks our water, our farms and our endangered species. Our environment is precious to every human being and creature on our planet. SAY NO to new gasfields.

The magnitude of this proposal in the current context of uncertainty in relation to guaranteed prevention of damage to the water table and surface waters make the gas project totally unacceptable. The potential for irreparable environmental damage to water, land and biodiversity in general is enormous and in no way counterbalanced by any economic concerns.
Santos must not be allowed to threaten our artesian water supply and environment with this enormously dangerous scheme.

U do NOT need further argument 2 OPPOSE your short sighted deal as a "Quick grab 4 dough!" EARTH COMES FIRST!

Please forget about drilling for gas. What we need to focus on now are renewables. Australian heritage is precious and should be preserved for future generations.Short term solutions for long term problems never succeed.If we destroy the very land we live on we will not survive.

Reconsider this, there is still so much unknown about the dangers of CSG and so much better and more profitable to turn your attention to renewable energy. It is dark ages to be even thinking of anything but renewable energy. History will not look well upon enterprises that in the face of such overwhelming evidence to the contrary still pushed the degradation of the earth and all who live on her.
Notice that Victoria continues its Moratorium on CSG and the people of Victoria are very grateful.

It is of critical importance that the gas from this project is transported (via Stage 1 of the Queensland Hunter Gas Pipeline) from Narrabri to Newcastle, which has DA approval. This approval means the Queensland Hunter Gas Pipeline is the fastest, cheapest and most certain way to get gas from Narrabri into the domestic NSW market.

Building the Queensland Hunter Gas Pipeline will ensure that the newly developed Narrabri Gas Project supplies the domestic NSW market (Hunter and Sydney Basin) rather than be diverted via a short-cut along the Moomba-to-Sydney Pipeline through Moomba and into the LNG plants in Queensland for export.

The Queensland Hunter Gas Pipeline will also increase competition in the east coast pipeline network.

There is a need for that water.
The NSW government found that the money paid to mining companies doesn't accurately reflect the true cost of rehabilitating mine sites. Furthermore, 75% of mines closed under 'unforeseen circumstances', and have been unable to pay any further rehabilitation costs. The bonds that secure our water and land's future do not take into account any unmitigated risks and are not being adequately regulated. That means the large extraction pits and mine sites are leeching heavy metals and acids into our ground water and no one is rehabilitating it.

First I object to the Narrabri Gas Project, and I will never have anything to do with Santos again ... ever.
I am so disappointed that we have even had to get to this submission writing stage. Does the NSW government not care about public health or the state of the environment at all? This project makes no sense and I want to make clear it is not done in my name. My faith in politicians has been completely trashed. Clearly today's elected representatives are only in it for themselves and the short term.
The Narrabri Gas Project is valueless and capable of great destruction.
I object to the project for many reasons, and the following points are reasons why I believe that it should be rejected:
1. The Narrabri Gas Project is worthless and everyone knows it including Santos.
2. Santos' environmental impact study is extremely short in detail. It does not provide maps indicating where exactly the wells, lines and infrastructure that run and around them will go.
3. It is unconscionable the NSW Government would consider granting Santos a blank cheque for this gasfield on Santos' promise that it will decide where the wells will go afterwards using a `Field Development Protocol.' No project has ever been assessed this way before in New South Wales and the constraints Santos propose are weak and subject to possible change later on.
4. There is no justification for this project whatsoever. The Narrabri Gas Project will wreak havoc and significant harm on the social, environmental and economic values of the Narrabri Shire and New South Wales, and Australia at large. Let us not forget that Santos is one of several large gas companies that threw the east coast gas market and the industries that rely on it into turmoil by opening up CSG fields in Queensland and contracting to sell more gas than those fields could ever produce to overseas customers. Misleadingly and deceptively, they drove up the price of gas and are plundering supplies previously available to manufacturers and power stations.
5. Cultural heritage and the Pilliga will be destroyed by fragmentation and industrialisation, and this devastation will cut off the Gomeroi / Gamilaraay people from their heritage and connection to country.
6. Our precious groundwater and the Great Artesian Basin are at risk and even Santos has admitted that the Narrabri Gas Project will result in a loss of water from the Great Artesian Basin recharge aquifer over time. W cannot afford to risk this crucial resource.
7. The issue of salt is a major concern. Water removed from the ground by Santos will be treated leading to peak salt production which Santos says they will dispose of in landfill - 41,900 tonnes of salt per year ... are you kidding?
8. The Pilliga is the largest temperate woodland in New South Wales. Santo propose clearing nearly 1,000ha of the Pilliga, including habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater and for koalas which are already in decline in the Pilliga. Spread across the whole forest, this clearing will fragment much larger areas of habitat. The Narrabri Gas Project will decimate the breeding habitat for the Pilliga Mouse which only lives in the Pilliga (nowhere else) as well as other breeding habitat for other wildlife. The Narrabri Gas Project will conclusively fragment and degrade the Pilliga Forest.
9. There is ever-growing international evidence pointing to the health damage attributed to unconventional gas operations including water contamination and respiratory illness. Does this international evidence cause any concern for the NSW government?
10. The air quality assessment fails to include health-damaging fine particulate pollution with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (known as MP2.5). With diesel generators at each well pad and at the water treatment and gas compression plants, there will be significant PM2.5 emissions.
11. Goodbye dark skies, and Siding Spring Observatory and international interaction with eminent scientists such as Professor Brian Cox - hello light pollution from flares, and compressor stations and the water treatment plant. Siding Spring is a critical facility and shareholders and the government should not accept the damage that the Narrabri Gas Project will create on Siding Spring.
12. Australia's continued denial of the science of climate change is reprehensible. Recent research by the Melbourne Energy Institute shows that Australia may be dramatically under-estimating the fugitive methane emissions from unconventional gas, including coal seam gas. It is not needed or useful as a source of energy: we have the technology we need to replace gas with renewable energy source.
13. Why are we continuing with this gas charade? With export markets evaporating, prices falling (except for in Australia due to unconscionable behaviour ... sigh) why would Santos want to continue to develop the highest cost gasfield on the east coast? Santos has written off $1.4 billion dollars on the Narrabri Gas Project to a current value of $0.00 - essentially this project is not worth a cent - what is this all about? Please explain. Santos shareholders and the New South Wales government should be asking themselves why the Narrabri Gas Project is still supported by Santos management when all the key economic indicators demonstrate an immediate closure is the prudent decision.
14. There is there little community appetite for the Narrabri Gas Project as evidenced by all the submissions written so far, as well as the protests, the letters, the meetings, the change of party seats in formerly safe seats. Everyone knows that Santos is in financial turmoil with its share price at near record lows. It is completely mystifying as to why Santos would want to continue trashing its brand. There is wide-spread rejection of the CSG in New South Wales, and the Narrabri Gas Project is not changing that view.
15. Santos' claims of working with the community are laughable and completely rejected. The community does not feel listened to. Public companies have legal obligations to listen to the concerns of the community and to act appropriately.
16. At the risk of repeating myself, essentially the Narrabri Gas Project is a stranded asset - and Santos knows it. Santos' reporting makes it clear that it does not have its sights set just on the Pilliga and the vital southern recharge area of the Great Artesian Basin. While Santos is telling the community that it is only focused on its Narrabri Gas Project it is at the same time mapping to its investors seven prospective gasfields across productive agricultural land in New South Wales, making it very clear that the long term intention for this region is gasfield expansion and interconnecting pipelines.
17. All gas wells fail at some stage and there is substantial evidence that well integrity can be compromised at any stage of a well's existence. Don't let that happen to us.
18. Drilling through aquifers is a risk - do I really need to write that? We are all reliant on groundwater and surface water. Santos does not have the information to say categorically that the Narrabri Gas Project will not affect other groundwater systems or contaminate surface water systems. Furthermore it is unable to provide concrete assurances the impact can be confined to the deeper systems as the current interconnectedness between the Great Artesian Basin and the deeper coal seams is presently unknown. Groundwater contamination of the Great Artesian Basin is a major corporate and community risk for Santos. They are and they know so, that they are responsible for how this all pans out. Surely Santos shareholders are increasingly concerned that putting the Great Artesian Basin at risk weakens community confidence in the company and perhaps explains the already considerable loss in shareholder value.
19. The risk and the impact of the Narrabri Gas Project on existing industries are high and grave. Santos shareholders and the New South Wales government should not be willing to be part of the systematic dismantling of existing sustainable industries that represent core Australian values.
20. Community health impacts have not been properly considered. To date they have been poorly addressed causing growing community concern and scepticism, further eroding the acceptability of the Narrabri Gas Project.
21. I am gravely concerned about spills and leaks - they are inevitable yes, but they are never acceptable. The Narrabri Gas Project has been responsible for a succession of spills, leaks and unapproved releases of produced water from sources that range from drill rigs, well sites, cuttings ponds, storage reservoirs, tankers, poor operating practices and poor container cleanout practices by contractors. Santos' internal records show that many have not been reported as required by the Conditions of Operating and many of these events have been recorded and communicated only by community members. In 2011 a large spill (not reported at the time) of alleged produced water from the Bibblewindi facility decimated approximately two hectares of vegetation. Santos declared that "the spill was only 10,000 litres of water, some of which was recovered" which would equate to two cups of water per square metre. Obviously far more water than this was spilt as significant pH changes were measured (and reported by Santos' consultant CH2M Hill) 277 metres from the spill site, to the depth of measurement (pH 10.0, 8.5 and 8.2 at depths of 0-50, 50-150 and 500-600 mm respectively, compared to a background level of 5.6). The response by Santos destroyed its credibility in the eyes of the community and was highly disappointing for shareholders. All vegetation in the area has remained dead for the past 6 years, resulting in further ridicule of Santos' response.
22. The days of denying anthropogenic climate change are over. The science of climate change is well and truly proven. Temperature records are being smashed monthly. The majority of greenhouse gases come from burning fossil fuels to produce energy. As outlined by a number of Australia's leading CEOs on Santos' website before the page was removed: "Climate change is affecting our businesses and the communities in which we operate ... the longer we wait, the harder it will be and the more it will cost us ... We are also vulnerable to climate impacts and we have a strategic interest in managing climate change." So in a nutshell, for Santos to continue to deny the role that fossil fuels (including CSG) play in climate change is morally reprehensible.
So, my NSW Government, please please abandon the Narrabri Gas Project and please please resume (or buy back ... whatever) the petroleum exploration licences for good. We can no longer ignore the overwhelming evidence that the Narrabri Gas Project is doomed, and ought not to be allowed to proceed. If it is permitted, the Narrabri Gas Project will consign us to a very grim future. We have our children, and their children to think of - we must say no.

The Narrabri Gas Project risks precious water sources, including the Great Australia Basin ~ Australia's largest groundwater aquifer.

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.

The Pilliga is one of 15 nationally listed biodiversity hotspots. The Santos gasfield wold 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.

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 Gas Project has a long history of spills and leaks of toxic CSG water ~ Santos cannot be trusted to manage the project safely.

This is an issue for the entire country. We don't need the gas to survive there are many alternate sources of power production. We need clean water and farm land. It is beyond belief that people can't see this, it just doesn't make sense.