Month: December 2019

Live free of the delusion that the Narrabri Gas Project will create jobs and prosperity. Live free of Santos’ propaganda that CSG can be mined without permanent damage to artesian water and air quality. Live free to compare Narrabri now (population about 6000) with similar towns such as Roma and Chinchilla already under gas; look at the tiny spike in 2011 and the decline since. Look at the number of irrigation bores lost to drawdown. Over 5,000 wells have been drilled in SE Queensland in 14 years with thousands more to come. The…continue reading →

Your chance to comment (read the letter to Mr. Jim Betts first). Main points: Resource Assessments branch of DPIE has waited until pipeline network and ancillary infrastructure completed, before retrospectively calling for Modifications of Maules Creek mine approvalDuring the construction period, DPIE relied solely on Whitehaven Coal’s alleged legal advice that the development did not require planning approvalBy doing so, the DPIE has granted Whitehaven a benefit, in that they are now claiming a “continuing use” which would not have been possible had the DPIE conducted itself in accordance with its own Compliance…continue reading →

Part 1 of this report talked about the need for baseline water monitoring prior to coal seam gas (CSG) mining. We discussed the Plumb Rd site and the concerning levels of methane and hydrogen sulphide, amongst other analytes, that were recorded by government contractor StreamlineHydro. We also looked at the history of the site, the implications of historic gas mining activity on the water monitoring bores and how tax payer dollars are being spent. We will now examine the location of the 'control' sites and government implementation of the $22.8 million dollar project.…continue reading →

Santos have upgraded the Wilga Park Power Station with 2 new 3MW generators to increase capacity at the power station from 16MW to 22MW, these are due to be commissioned in early December 2019. This finalises the community-named "Production by Stealth" modification to licence status that enables SANTOS to use exploration gas for production whilst paying no royalties | Image courtesy of Wando Conservation & Cultural Centre In total there are 6 modifications to the original approval. This is a good example of the piecemeal approach to acquiring approval for projects that community…continue reading →