Narrabri Gas

The Narrabri Gas Project will create a local development which will generate jobs and investment in the local region. This will benefit local families, businesses and organizations by investing in local supplies and services. Santos has a good relationship with many of its stakeholders in the community and I have witnessed first hand the community support for the project. This is a result of Santos' successful integration into the local community and its enduring spirit in ensuring the project is not only a success for the company, but also the many stakeholders such as job seekers, businesses and local and state economies. I have every confidence in the studies which have been undertaken and that the impacts as a result of this development will be mitigated as best as possible. I support the Narrabri Gas Project and look forward to its contribution to the state of NSW.

I grew up near the Pilliga and my parents live on the edge of the Pilliga forest today. Anyone familiar with the Pilliga can tell you it is a very special part of Australia's wilderness. I strongly object to the extraction of coal-seam gas in the Pilliga for many reasons. I don't believe Santos has any right to financially benefit from a resource that belongs to all of us. My main objection though is an error in the EIS that gives the bushfire risk of Santos's proposed extraction sites as 'medium'. As someone very familiar with the landscape and terrain of the Pilliga I maintain that the bushfire risk of any coal-seam gas activity in the Pilliga should be assessed as high to truthfully represent the danger to property and, far more importantly, human life. An adequate risk assessment has not been completed.

I ask that Santos Application be rejected on the following grounds.
The gas is not required for domestic use. The gas extracted will be transported and sold overseas. There is sufficient gas available for domestic use.
The project will damage the environment. The Pilliga is a valuable area which supports a diverse range of wildlife. It should be preserved not mined. CSG extraction has been seen to damage the local environment by leakage of extraction chemicals including salts, and fugitive gas emissions.
There are insufficient guarantees in place that the mine will clean up its mess at the completion of the project.
Global Warming. Australia should pursue and invest in low emissions energy generation, not one which will generate greenhouse gases.

To whom it may concern,

My name is Michael Kirby White and I wish to express my concerns about the Narrabri Gas Project (NGP), and recommend that it not be approved.

Coal Seam Gas (CSG) is not a safe form of gas extraction. The methods used to extract the gas from the ground are associated with the pollution of ground and surface water as a result of chemicals being injected into gas wells. This ultimately harms the ecosystems and risks the viability of those farmlands that rely on these water supplies for their survival. Furthermore, CSG is associated with methane emissions that will contribute to global warming and create an obstacle to Australia meeting the targets it agreed to as part of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Santos have argued in their Environmental Impact Statement that the NGP will potentially create new jobs for the community. However, we need to take note of the negative effect that the NGP will have of employment on a wider specturm. For example, the potential for job losses in the agriculture sector when water sources become contaminated. Alternatively, regional communities may see movements of people out of the region as they seek accommodation and employment in areas not effected by water pollution.

Finally, the NGP should not progress as the New South Wales community should be moving to a future based on renewable energy sources. All decisions on our energy future should strongly consider the need to invest in alternative renewable energy projects and consider the negative effects that any project will have on creating the market mechanisms required for renewable energy projects to succeed.

Thank you for your consideration of my concerns.

Kind regards,

Michael Kirby White

The Piliga forest is unique and must be protected from CSG development. The aquifer below is vital to our farming and must not be contaminated. We need to transition away from fossil fuels if we are to reverse the devastating effects of increased carbon in our atmosphere. I am totally opposed to the proposal by Santos to install 850 gas wells in the Piliga Forest.

Having kept track of this project for some time I don't believe that there are adequate safety measures, nor adequate consideration of environmental issues. The very real risks far outweigh any assumed benefits. This sort of project only has one chance to get it right and many, many ways it can go wrong.

I oppose the project.

In view of Santos' existing record of pollution (including a creek) in the Pilliga forest, the wanton and terrible destruction already inflicted upon the native fauna, and the fact that NSW already has a steady supply of gas, it is obvious that if Santos goes ahead with this project it will be for export, and the possibility of further price increases for our Australian usage.
The impact on the environment makes no sense at all. In view of Santos financial position it is doubtful the NSW govt is ever going to see much revenue and once the project is up and running the employment for the region drops significantly (as shown in places like Chinchilla and Tara Qld) and towns are left with the mess and no one to clean it up.
This project should never see the light of day and over 80pc of northern and regional areas have already opposed this poisonous industry for reasons which can already been seen in Qld.

I say a flat out NO to Santos's Narrabri gas project.
Santos claim that the gas from this project will be for use in NSW industry and home, nothing could be further from the truth.
Santos are currently going bankrupt, with their debt maturing in 2019.
In the run up to that they are frantically trying to reduce their debt load, which stood at US$4.3 billion in November 2016.
Their LNG plant at Gladstone is loss making at current oil prices, and will continue to be so with no rise in oil prices ever likely to happen again, with the rise of electric vehicles, and the instability of the OPEC production cut deal.
Thus Santos's only plan is to sell "assets" so they can reduce this debt.
The Narrabri project is one of these, and the only reason they put in the EIS is so they can get it approved, so they can then sell it.
NSW will never see any gas out of Narrabri.
What's more, if this project is approved, and then sold, and against all economic sense the 850 wells are drilled, that would cost approximately A$3 billion, which Santos, nor any other gas player, has available to invest in a dud project.
And clearly, the pilot wells already drilled and infrastructure built at Narrabri have caused considerable damage.
Rather than approving this economic and environmentally destructive violation, the state government need to cancel it now, and order Santos to clean up the mess they have already made.
There is gas aplenty in Bass Strait which will provide NSW with all the gas it needs, and cheaply at that, in perpetuity, so the only logical step is for the NSW state government to cancel the Narrabri CSG project now.
This is what the voters of NSW want, so think on that Gladys Berejiklian.

I agree with the Maules Creek branch of the NSW Country Womens Association which opposes unconventional gas because the results of hosting unconventional gas are:

PROPERTIES DEVALUED,
MORTGAGES REFUSED,
INSURANCE COVERS REJECTED,
FAMILIES DESTROYED,
COMMUNITIES DIVIDED,
AQUIFERS DRAINED,
LAND POISONED,
CHILDREN SICKENED,
MENTAL BREAKDOWNS
AND SUICIDE.

If this project progresses it will:

- be against the assessment of a foundational core of Australian Society.
- be an assault, violating elements foundational to a healthy society.
and, its natural for such assaults to be opposed by strenuous and primal responses.

Truth speaks for itself, those that walk with the smooth ways of common sense, listening to and heeding nature's ways, are supported by the very nature of things. But those that walk in opposition, are opposed.

As a scientist with the training to make environmental impact assessments I could have referred to research, investigations and evidence but what is needed in this instance is basic honesty because the facts are plain from others experience. Honest decent people look at the reality then act wisely and fairly ... unfortunately CSG to asks people to turn a blind eye, act foolishly and with gross unfairness towards others.

Note:
I am familiar with people at Qld who have been effected by unconventional gas mining as mentioned by the CWA branch.
This includes suicide (Mr Bender, I have conversed with his daughter Helen via internet)
Sick children (The daughters of Sandi Bamberry, I have met these wonderful people and have seen in their experience the detrimental health and financial effects of unconventional gas)
Depression and stress (People like the Benders and Bamberries) .
Financial restrictions in the areas of land value and loans.

Having been touched by people effected so detrimentally by unconventional gas mining, including CSG mining ... In my view to go ahead with it is to invite the same upon the heads of good NSW folk ... and in the light of such experience, it will be negligent.

Sincerely

David John Fenton

BSc (AES, Env Pollution and Health), Dip Ed,

I value my privacy. This submission is provided on the basis that my name and address details remain confidential.

I have read the executive summary and sections of the Narrabri gas project EIS. I am also familiar with the content of the earlier Site Verification Certificate application.

I support this project wholeheartedly.

NEED FOR THE PROJECT:

This is an essential project for NSW.

NSW has gone through a period of approvals paralysis for gas exploration and production drilling. This has seen gas prices increase by about 15% in 2014-2015 alone, placing significant stress on household budgets, and pressure on industrial users.
(source: https://industry.gov.au/Energy/Energy-information/Documents/Gas-Price-Trends-Report.pdf)

The only alternative sources of gas for NSW come from Victoria. Relying on Victoria to supply gas is the very definition of insanity, when Victoria has declared a moratorium on all gas exploration drilling until 2020 and a ban on hydraulic fracture stimulation.

Furthermore, all of the jobs and economic growth in NSW in the past 5 years has been focused on Sydney, and driven by Sydney house prices and infrastructure projects, with regional areas actually experiencing economic contraction of 0.3% p.a. This is a deplorable situation which is resulting in perverse outcomes, and the NSW government should be urgently addressing this imbalance.
(source: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/a-state-divided-parts-of-nsw-recessionhit-as-sydney-booms-20161129-gszvwz.html)

As an example of one of the perverse outcomes of this economic imbalance, my local area was recently identified as having the seventh most unaffordable housing in the world, when measured against wages. As a homeowner I have made far more money (on paper) in the last three years from owning a home (a non-productive asset) than from working. This is not actually a good thing, because if I move house most of my costs are a percentage of the house price - such as stamp duty and real estate fees - so the only winners here are the NSW government. I have also seen my suburb gradually change from being filled with young families (affordable homes) to wealthy retirees from Sydney paying over a million dollars in some cases. The average wage in my area is $43,900. Clearly this level of earnings can not support a million dollar mortgage.

(sources: http://www.southernhighlandnews.com.au/story/4424099/wingecarribee-in-top-10-least-affordable-cities/

http://stat.abs.gov.au/itt/r.jsp?RegionSummary&region=11402&dataset=ABS_REGIONAL_ASGS&geoconcept=REGION&measure=MEASURE&datasetASGS=ABS_REGIONAL_ASGS&datasetLGA=ABS_REGIONAL_LGA&regionLGA=REGION&regionASGS=REGION)

The Narrabri gas project will provide a long-term supply of gas for NSW, helping to keep gas prices affordable, and even more fundamentally, just "keep the lights on". It will also result in jobs for a regional area, helping to address the imbalance between Sydney and regional NSW. Economically vibrant regions are part of the key to keeping the pressures off Sydney and surrounds.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
The environmental assessment found that the project will not impact on any strategic agricultural land (BSAL).

Furthermore, the project will not result in any cumulative impacts.

The volume of groundwater to be extracted is well within the sustainable yield of the groundwater system, and will generate many orders of magnitude the economic benefits that the same volume of water could generate if it was put to agriculture. The project will put the produced water to beneficial use where possible.

Finally, the assessment found that the project is consistent with the findings of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer's 2014 report on coal seam gas.

There can be no excuse to refuse this project. It is essential to the economic welfare and energy security of NSW.

If any activist groups or individuals oppose this project on purely ideological grounds without having properly reviewed the EIS, the NSW government should politely require them to give up their electricity, iphones, cars, modern medical care, food produced using modern agricultural techniques, steel, glass and concrete, medicines, welfare payments and other benefits of modern life that are provided by widely available and affordable energy.

It is my understanding that recently the Victorian Govt declared a moratorium on gas exploration and production drilling till 2020. A ban has also been placed on hydraulic fracture stimulation.
At the moment we in NSW can rely on the Cooper Basin in South Australia but when that runs out then our only alternative gas supplier would be Victoria - and with the moratorium and ban described above I do not see how we can leave the fate of the NSW economy in the hands of the Victorian government.

This project will provide 500 employment places during the life of the project - thus securing some hope for work in the future for our children and grandchildren and importantly, the project will not disturb prime agricultural land;
also it will not pollute any surface or groundwater

Allowing this project to go ahead will contribute to the ever growing inter-generational equity failings of current energy and land use practices. The economy and social landscape of modern Australia is ready for a complete shift towards renewable energy sources. This project will not only fly in the face of the ever increasing request from Australian society to move to renewable energy, but will also contribute to increases in carbon emissions and reduction in ecological integrity of some of Australia's most untouched environments. On the above basis, I strongly oppose this development and as a tax payer and citizen request that the government (as my employer) does not proceed.

I think it's highly inappropriate for Santos to be drilling for coal seam gas in the Pilliga which is a significant area for all Australians not just the locals.
The local community of Pilliga do not want it and nor do I. I hope you will hear our objections and choose a location that does not impact the environment or its people.
Thankyou.

This will be devastating to the regional eco systems and in the long term the entire earth . I believe it if our responsibility to protect Australia for the the future , not just make the rich richer.

I am writing this submission to strongly put my outrage on the plan that Santos has to drill 850 wells in the Pilliga region. The danger to this natural environment and the Artesian basin is far too great. In these days of water shortages the idea of putting this inter-connected water system under any threat, no matter how small seems to me inconceivable. Once 850 wells are operating the landscape and habitat will be broken up, we have already learnt that this can have disastrous effects on native wildlife.

I object to the destruction of the forests in the Great Artesian Basin. These areas are of great ecological, environmental and historical significance and should not fall victim to coal seam gas.

To whom it may concern,

I respectfully object to this project. There are many reasons for this, ranging from threatening wildlife to climate change concerns, but my main objection is around the threat to the Great Australian Basin.

Why it is even conceivable that a freshwater source (of which we have so few in the country) be put under threat, the only environmental restriction that can guarantee it is safe from contamination and damage is just not to build the wells. This could have implications to so many who rely on the water in the basin, I simply think it is a terrible idea.

Thank you for your time in reading my submission

Aaron Job

There is no amount of money in the world that justifies risking any ground water health, particularly that of the Artesian basin. Even low risk is some risk and is not worth it to make some quick profits for a company with an extremely unethical reputation and history of environmental damage. Please do the only right thing by our people, our environment and future generations and do not allow CGS projects to destroy our fragile environment. There is not need for CSG when there are much better and safer energy alternatives out there.

No way this should go ahead - the damage caused by drilling for gas is irreparable.

I do not support any government legislation that allows for the coal seam gas projects to go ahead. This is destroying our eco system. We need to invest in renewable's and create jobs via renewable's. We cannot let our governments short term profit and lies destroy our beloved country