I am making this submission as an Australian concerned that the Great Artesian Basin sffer no more unacceptable threats from coal seam gas exploration and extraction. Our efforts should be investing in sustainable non-carbon energy NOW.

Inland NSW is already stretched tight in regards to water and climate change will only increase the frequency and severity of droughts. The agricultural industry in the inland is also one of the major tenets of the Australian economy. The Great Artesian Basin will inevitably come under more pressure as rainfall patterns deteriorate and within a few decades it will be supporting almost all food production in the country, even in areas, such as the Narrabri region, that were once considered food bowls. If the Basin is contaminated by fracking by-products or accidents, the result won't be a minor fluctuation in the Australian dollar - the entire inland will be rendered unarable and uninhabitable. Compromising the country's groundwater for the sake of short-term energy generation is not only short-sighted, it's suicidal.

Please do not allow Santos to drill 850 coal seam gas wells right through the heart of the Pilliga forest and through the Great Artesian Basin.

I am totally against this environmentally devastating project and i say NO to CSG in the Pilliga.

I am a mother and I vote for the future of my children.

Please do not approve this project. My concern is the risk to wildlife which will be affected in this area. It is pointless identifying areas of unique biodiversity and then sanctioning it to be destroyed should the dollar value be more attractive to government than the future not only of the wildlife but the water table and environment as a whole that could be affected by this proposal.

Santos' risky quest for coal seam gas in the Pilliga so far has met disastrous results - with over 20 pollution scares, including groundwater contamination, waste spills, and continuing leaks from evaporation ponds.

Now the project has lost bipartisan political support with the State Opposition announcing policy specifically ruling out gasfield development in the Pilliga. The economic justification for the project, a gas supply shortage in NSW, has also been conclusively disproven.

Technical uncertainty at Narrabri remains high and reserves were recently written down by 32%.

The project has already been delayed for years due to the geotechnical difficulties, environmental contamination and community protests.

The community will not rest until the Narrabri Gas Project is scrapped altogether.

In fact, local community members are celebrating the results of neighbour to neighbour coal seam gas surveys. The incredible results are in: 96% of people living across more than 3 million hectares of land in North West NSW want to be gasfield free!

This Narrabri Gas Project is Santos' plan to drill 850 coal seam gas wells through the Pilliga forest, the largest inland forest left in Eastern Australia. There is already significant evidence of the irreparable damage coal seam gas projects have created both throughout Australia and across the world.

Our world is screaming out to us that climate change caused by us needs to be addressed. We need smart sustainable alternatives for energy

Dear Sir

My main concern with this project is the risk it poses to our precious water resources, in particular, the Great Artesian Basin. The area of the Great Artesian Basin with the highest recharge rates are almost entirely within the Pillaga East forest. Contamination of this area could have serious, far-reaching consequences. Also, spills from this project could eventually find their way to the Murray-Darling basin.

Hundreds of cultural sites of significance to the Gamilaraay people with be lost if this project goes ahead.

Community surveys show 96% opposition to this project.

The Pillaga is listed as a "biodiversity hotspot". Fragmentation of habitat would threaten the survival of precious endangered species.

Santos has no solution for disposing of between 17,000 and 24,000 tonnes of contaminated salt waste produced each year. NSW will be left with the legacy of hundreds of thousands tonnes of this waste.

The dreadful impact of volatile organic compounds released by the CSG industry on human and livestock health has been well- documented here in Queensland, in Sydney and in America.

Yours sincerely
Jeanette Mills

To whom it may concern... which is everyone
I can't believe this coal mine is proposed or any for that matter. Our planet is dying due to fossil fuels. Enough please. Look at investing in renewable power such as wind/ hydro or solar. These options are far kinder on the environment and sustainable. The evidence is clear, please abort such proposals in the name of humanity.

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.
Allowing this project to continue is the height of folly, poor planning and a lack of vision for what matters to future generations.
Protecting and nurturing our natural environments and in particular our water sources is a cause not to be denigrated.

The Narrabri Gas Project risks precious water sources, Santos has a long history (worldwide) of spills and leaks of toxic CSG water--Santos cannot be trusted to manage the project safely. Our wildlife and our human life should be protected at all costs and coal seam gas has had a long history of putting both at high and unacceptable risk. NSW farming has always struggled with water... why pollute it? And why put it at more risk by toxifying it with salt? The whole is idea is absolutely stupid and anyone who ISN"T financially motivated by the project can see that the cost is just way too expensive to both ourselves and wildlife to justify.

I grew up in Gunnedah and have very fond memories of the Pilliga, on terribly hot days Dad would load his wife and five daughters into the ute and drive through the forest as it was always a few degrees cooler owing to the tree cover. It's insane to mine here, not only because of the fauna and flora but because of the great arteasen basin underneath it.