Narrabri Gas

Our political leaders have been elected by the people, for the people. Local government, State & Federal Government representatives- you are responsible for the welfare of our country, of our people, of our bio security & incrementally, for our future. Do not put our water, our productive land at risk. Santos has a horrible international reputation worldwide for destruction to land & to communities. This process will destroy the forest, the habitats, the underground water system. It must not be allowed to fester in secret in the bush. DO NOT ALLOW THIS TO GO AHEAD!! the voter backlash will be long & loud. The population is not as uneducated or blase as many in government would choose to believe. But more than that this is a watershed moment. To see farmers, 'greenies' & our indigenous population all united against this marauding procedure must surely tell you something??!

To let this project go ahead would an absolute disgrace- it is such a significant piece of remnant scrub, culturally and environmentally.
I stayed overnight here a few years back and was struck by the pristine bush land and aboriginal story of the bunyip. It had such a different feel about it ( sounds wishy washy I know) that cannot be described.
This area needs to be PROTECTED not EXPLOITED.
Stop this coal seam gas project- please!

1. The Narrabri Gas Project risks precious water sources, including the Great Australian BasinÂ--AustraliaÂ's largest groundwater aquifer
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.
I am really concerned that the voice of the custodians of this nation has been silenced in this situation like many other situations in the past relating to how all of this affects them & their history & the impact it will make on them in the future.
Once again the big corporations in collaboration with government officials is railroading our indigenous people & society with multimillion dollar deals that impact on those who cannot fight the big buck deals done without any consideration or consultation with the public leaving everyone feeling vulnerable & helpless especially our native wildlife as well.
I don't know if you will listen to us but I'm submitting my disagreement in the hope someone has an ear to hear me & listens to our concerns & hopefully cares enough to stand up & do something righteous for a change instead of allowing money to be the driving factor behind every major decision that will impact our society for generations to come.

Given all we know about climate change, it is nonsensical to be actively engaging in any new fossil fuel mine infrastructure. Not only do we not have the atmospheric capacity to take more co2, but fracking is also terribly disruptive for the environment.

The combination of roads and wells covering large areas of land combined with the toxic fracking fluids being injected at high pressure into the ground leaves a legacy that will persist long after the mining company has packed up and gone away. Fracking often leads to contamination of ground water, something we are already in short supply of.

We don't need to frack. We have numerous options available with renewables. That is where the government should be investing and encouraging energy companies to focus their investment.

The only real beneficiary of fracking is the company who's been given the license - they make a lot of money and rarely carry out the rehabilitation required to restore the environment after they've finished.

The government is left with the environmental impact, the health impacts to wildlife or nearby populations and any cleanup costs.

For future generations, please don't proceed.

There should be no CSG mining in NSW. It is threatening endangered wildlife and fauna, as well as impacting on farmers who provide vital products.

The public doesn't want CSG mining. When are politicians going to start listening to what the people want instead of big business?

I am extremely disappointed in our Government. This is a democracy when the people's voice should be heard!

This project has so many more disadvantages than benefits. It will damage land and the surrounding environment, affect wildlife, and it's a health risk.
Sustainable and renewable energy needs to be the priority if we are to move forward and save our beautiful country for those who come after us.
Our land, culture and history needs to be valued over the dollar.
This proposal is so damaging to so many areas, it cannot possibly be considered as a reasonable venture.
I would encourage those in favour to consider alternatives and look at how this proposal will leave irreversible scars.
Although it might take longer, it is far more beneficial in the long run to think about sustainable and renewable ways to meet demand.

For the nth time, coal seam gas projects are harmful to the environment and ruinous to the water table. NSW has one of the most fragile water-table on earth - small disturbances to it can have enormous detrimantal effect. We simply cannot afford that.

CSG has been defeated at Bentley and at Gloucester. A vast majority of NSW citizens, who have seen the damage in Queensland, want it banned from the whole state. Please do not allow ant CSG exploration or mining to proceed in this state, at Narrabi's Pilliga or elsewhere.

Please listen to your electorates, and stop this project.

I don't agree with the Santos proposal to drill 850 coal seam gas wells right through the heart of the Pilliga forest and through the Great Artesian Basin.

Coal seam gas mining in this pristine environment puts the land and water resource at unacceptable risk.

Please look for energy alternatives with less impact on the natural environment.

I would like it to be known that I appose Fracking and CSG development. This project should not go ahead, the risks are too great, and the alternatives are now economically viable.

No CSG!

Shane Mcmullan

I strongly object to the granting of this exploration licence.

I feel the evidence is clear that this type of mining practice has been proven in many areas of the world to be unsafe to the environment. France in fact banning it completely.

The risk of contamination to ground water in the artesian basin is outrageous. There is nothing more important than clean water and to risk contamination is reckless and foolhardy. Future generations of Australians will need this water resource to be uncontaminated. The mining industry has a proven track record world wide of destroying the environment for short term profits.
It beggars belief that our the politicians are prepared to even consider allowing this proposal to go forward given that the vast majority of the voting public are so strongly opposed to CSG mining.
Do not allow this to go ahead. It is not in the interest of the people or the country.

We need to stop ruining our environment.

I wholeheartedly object to this project based pn the following points

1.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 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 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 recognised 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.
- See more at: https://www.wilderness.org.au/final-push-pilliga#sthash.TbvJWa7C.dpuf

Any reasonable person would think that with all the scientific evidence against CSG, that regulators would rule against new proposals as a first response.Water is the first and only priority in these cases.
Farmland can't be productive with a lack of water or polluted water, so don't approve this application. Any other decision is ludicrous.
Farmers aren't fools. If 90% of them are in opposition to CSG, then they should listened to and heard.
CSG projects have been proven unreliable in their safety and cleanliness to the environment. Any risk to water and land is too great a risk.
Every year more species become extinct because of bad decision making by government departments. CSG is another nail in the coffin for many vulnerable species in the nearby areas
Greenhouse gas emissions from CSG contribute to climate change.
Human populations near CSG operations suffer from a variety of health complaints that have been well enough documented to be regarded as fact.
Salt as a bi product of CSG cannot be ignored.

Na

I object to this proposal..... it is disgusting.

The great Artesian Basin is critical to the wellbeing of thousand of Australian's and their family, Livestock and all the native Flora and Fauna of this country needs to be more important than one company's profits, and do they pay any tax anyway? Probably not, this is a corrupt practise and any government who sanctions this activity and jeopardises the natural water of the land should be held accountable.

The Pilliga is a haven for threatened wildlife

It is simply disgusting that this type of environmental rape and pillage can be approved in a pristine natural environment. I object to it and cannot believe that the government could approve such a thing.There is no hope for the health of the environment or the native wildlife if you approve this .I am so shocked that this type of application can even be made let alone considered for approval.

This cannot happen. We must focus on more clean energy projects.

How can this continue to be justified?

The dirty tactics at play are clearly evident and I fear this will fall on deaf ears but big $$$ is all that matters.

Once you give the go ahead, there is no turning back to what it is currently, so thanks very much, we all really appreciate the job your doing!